Smash Brother Ranma
by ClanCrusher
Summary: Join Ranma in the Smash Brothers universe as he makes friends, fights enemies, and causes an ungodly amount of chaos across the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I don't own Ranma one half, I don't own Nintendo, I don't own that stupid announcers voice that starts the beginning of each and every match of Super Smash Brothers, I don't own the master hand, I don't own any characters that belong to that game. I could go on all day.

* * *

**Chapter 1- Ready…**

Ranma sighed to himself as he woke up early for the third time that week. He had been staying at the Tendo's Dojo for three years now, and his father's constant morning fights had trained him to wake up at the god forsaken early hours of the morning.

Feigning sleep, Ranma watched through slightly closed eyes as his pop sneaked towards his bed, an evil grin on his face. Slowly, Genma reached down and grabbed his son's muscle shirt.

"WAKE UP BOY!" Shouted Genma suddenly.

Ranma's eyes snapped open suddenly, "ALRIGHT POPS!"

Genma didn't even have time to be surprised from the shout as he found his grip broken and himself flying out the window. Laughing softly to himself, Ranma jumped out the window to join his pop for the morning spar.

'It's the small things in life…' he thought to himself as he faced his father across the koi pond.

Nabiki sighed as she heard Ranma's shout reverberate through the whole house. Time to begin another day. She didn't used to be a morning person but Ranma's entrance into her life left little choice in the matter.

* * *

"You know, there was a time when Nerima was actually interesting…" mumbled Ranma to himself as he saw Kuno charging towards him, bokken raised above his head.

Stepping to the side at the last minute, Ranma let the wooden sword pass him with an inch to spare. Letting Kuno overextend himself, Ranma drove his elbow into his back as he passed. Using Kuno's moment of recovery to his advantage, Ranma round-housed the Blue Thunder in the back of the head, dropping him instantly.

"Come on Ranma! We're going to be late for school!" shouted Akane, running past him into the building.

"Darn, and here I was hoping to sleep inside the classroom instead of outside in the hall," grumbled Ranma, but nevertheless followed Akane inside.

* * *

Miss Hinako was boring, the lecture was boring, he didn't understand the foreign language, and someone who fell asleep at midnight and woke up at dawn was pretty damn tired during the afternoon, which explained why Ranma was currently asleep on his desk.

Hinako smiled to herself as she withdrew a 500 yen piece from her desk. While she thrived on ki and wasn't particular to any type, Ranma's ki was different, it felt better to her than others, and she took every opportunity to "educate" Ranma about sleeping in class.

Ranma grimaced to himself as he _felt_ Hinako moving towards him. Call it the martial artist's sixth sense if you will.

_Damn and I was almost asleep too._ He thought bitterly.

"Happo 500 yen…"

Faster than the eye could see Ranma got up from his desk and jumped out of the way from the attack. Poor Daiskue who didn't get out of the way in time was immediately drained.

Hinako, in her adult form, blinked at the disappearance of her target.

"Looking for me?"

The English teacher whirled around only to get the yen piece knocked out of her hand. Before she could say anything she felt Ranma's fingers on her right breast and lower back, the pressure points that would temporarily seal off her technique.

Ranma left her standing there for a few seconds before returning to his seat, putting his head down and falling asleep. Although even a non-martial artist could sense it, Ranma paid no attention to Akane's angry battle aura.

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There was only one thing Ranma was grateful for about school, and that was the lunch break in between the monotonous classes. Sitting outside underneath his favorite tree, the pigtailed martial artist watched the going on's of his fellow classmates.

Kuno had just gotten thrown into the cement wall for professing his love for Akane and Nabiki was pointing at him while talking to some of her "subordinates." Ranma groaned for what seemed like the tenth time that day, whenever Nabiki took interest in him it was never good.

Swallowing the last of his sandwich, Ranma jumped onto one of the tree's branches and spring boarded up to the third floor where his classroom was, leaving Nabiki scowling at him from the ground floor.

Unfortunately she was able to corner him after school had let out.

"Hey Ranma, I have a deal…"

"No."

"What?"

"I said no. I don't want to hear it and I'm not interested."

Nabiki was a bit taken aback at being so casually rebuffed but she quickly recovered, "Saotome, need I remind you of…"

"No you really don't need to remind me. You've "reminded" me of that crap since the first day I got here, and I don't need to hear it again."

"Well then, I hardly need to explain it then. Care to reconsider?"

"No I really don't care. I don't want any part of it," seeing her start to frown Ranma added, "And this discussion is over. I'll see you at the dojo."

With that Ranma jumped out the window in his classroom, landing gracefully on the ground.

Nabiki was furious, no one ever refused her offers, or they would get what was coming to them. Taking out her cell-phone, Nabiki dialed a few numbers.

* * *

"RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Without even looking behind him Ranma caught the titanium umbrella by the handle, grunting slightly as the weight seemed to push him into the ground.

"Ryoga, seriously man, can't you come up with a new line or something?"

Taken off guard Ryoga paused in mid attack as if considering something, "I dunno, what should I say?"

"Try something cooler, like "Defend Yourself" or "Prepare to Fight." Prepare to die is so generic and overused its rusting."

Ryoga sat down and thought about it for a second, "You know what? You're right, I think I need a new line."

"Happy to help," with a friendly wave Ranma walked off towards the dojo.

Ryoga was nodding appreciatively when he suddenly remembered something, "Hey wait a second! We still have to fight…aw crap now where am I?"

Hearing a low rumble of thunder Ryoga automatically reached behind himself to get his umbrella…

"Huh? Where is it?"

…only to find out that Ranma had walked off with it. His cursing and death threats soon gave way to the squealing of a small pig.

* * *

Just before the rain hit, Ranma unfurled Ryoga's umbrella, shielding him from the water. The freak rainstorms that happened around Nerima were so common it was getting easier to predict them.

Standing outside of the dojo for a few seconds, Ranma braced himself for the storm to hit when he entered, "There always has to be drama," he said to himself. Unfortunately he didn't even get to enter the dojo before Akane came storming out.

"RANMA! What are you doing with Ryoga's umbrella? You were picking on him again weren't you?"

_Alright, here's my ticket out of this _thought Ranma suddenly, "Yes Akane, I was picking on Ryoga again, then on the way home I flirted with Shampoo and asked Ukyo on a date. Finally I kicked P-Chan into the sky on my way home. Happy?"

Ranma almost laughed in spite of himself. He probably could have performed the Hiryu Shoten Ha right now without even having to walk in a spiral.

"RANMA YOU BASTARD!" With a scream of fury Akane launched the martial artist into orbit.

* * *

"Something tells me that this wasn't supposed to happen," said Ranma to the blackness he now faced. When Akane had hit him, he had gone straight past LEO into UEO. The only problem with that was that he hadn't come back down. Instead he was standing on some sort of glowing platform, still holding Ryoga's umbrella.

Then suddenly, as if someone was lifting off a veil around him, the darkness faded into a much larger flat platform seemingly suspended in space. It was then he realized that he wasn't alone.

Across from him stood something akin to a robot, armor decorated with varying shades of orange and red. A green visor placed across the section where the face would have been made it impossible to tell if it was human or not.

"Um…excuse me but I think I accidentally…"

"READY…"

Ranma nearly jumped at the voice that came from nowhere, "Who said that?"

…FIGHT!"

"Fight? But I was just…" His words were cut off as he saw the robot like thing in front of him charge forward.

* * *

This is a re-write of the prologue. I went through and re-read this story and I found a lot of inconsistencies that I want to fix before they get out of hand. The re-write will probably take some time before it catches up the original.

Update 5/6/10: Fixed a few spelling errors and sentence problems.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is the re-written version of chapter 2. I realized a little while ago that the whole chapter was a grand total of four pages, so I lengthened it a bit, factored Ryoga's umbrella into the fight and introduced an antagonist into the story where there was no "villain role" previously.

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**Chapter 2- Man vs. Machine?**

It was only due to the last 3 years of the Neriman brand hell he went through that saved him from a pounding by the armored figure. Sidestepping the charge Ranma jumped away to get some distance.

"Hey come on now, I don't even know where I am," protested Ranma, continuing to stay out of reach of the attacker, "I don't even know you!"

Silence was the only response he got. Jumping back a few more feet Ranma watched as the figure extended its right arm. Where a hand and fingers should have been there was an empty tube.

Ranma's fascination quickly died down as the tube released a missile headed straight towards his face.

"Woah!" Dropping to all fours, Ranma let the missile pass above him and quickly jumped away from the ground to avoid a second.

"Alright, I don't know who you are, but if you want a fight you got it!"

The machine-like enemy paused for a second before slowly extending its good hand in a "come on" gesture.

"Gladly!" shouted Ranma before darting forward, Ryoga's umbrella extending in front of him. Right before Ryoga's umbrella would have made contact with the enemy; Ranma darted to the right and attacked the person's left side instead.

Falling for the fake out, Ranma got a clean shot on the enemies' side, knocking it back a few feet. Not letting up on his attack the martial artist charged forward again, hoping to keep up the pressure. This time the machine wasn't fooled though.

Right before his attack, the machine rolled into a small ball and rolled right between Ranma's legs, avoiding his attack completely. Turning around to face his opponent, Ranma didn't notice the flashing red ball that the thing had left behind.

BOOM!

Until it blew up right between his legs. Wincing in pain, Ranma was completely open for the next attack and took the machine's gun-arm right in the stomach. Flying into the air, Ranma unfurled Ryoga's umbrella to ward off another barrage of missiles that followed his assent. Lacing just the right amount of ki into the weapon, Ranma chucked it at his foe, putting the right spin on it so that it would return back to him.

His foe merely took a small step to the right and avoided it completely, much like he had done the first time that technique was used on him. Landing on the ground, Ranma opened his hand and caught the umbrella as it came back to him.

"Nice moves," he said to the machine type thing standing across from him, "But let me show you mine!"

This time the machine met him partway in their melee. Tossing the umbrella on the ground Ranma caught the machines forward punch and did a tai chi toss onto the ground, only to be amazed as the thing seemed to recover in midair and land on its feet.

"What the hell?"

His stall almost cost him as another missile grazed his shoulder. Mentally cursing himself for his hesitation, Ranma rolled back and grabbed the umbrella, expecting some more missiles to come at him.

However, the robot like enemy had retreated and was now charging up a big blue ball of energy from its gun arm.

"Okay, now that looks bad."

Rushing forward Ranma moved at a slight angle so as not to present an easy target. The machine didn't seem overly concerned with it though, rotating to keep him in its field of vision. Just as he was about to close the distance for an assault, the machine abruptly stopped charging and rolled out of the way.

"What the…why'd you stop charging?" asked Ranma. After gathering that much energy, he would have at least expected the thing to release it at him.

In response the thing merely motioned towards its gun, which was now glowing a bright white. A second too late, Ranma realized what that meant.

**BOOOM!!**

Fortunately, he had the sense of mind to at least partially dodge it, so the blue energy blast didn't hit him head on. On the other hand…

"God damnit that hurt," Said Ranma, picking himself up off the ground. His pants had been singed and his shirt was falling away into ashes. He wasn't sure if the person standing in front of him was human or not, seeing as how his ki scan was only registering bits and traces of energy, but he could swear that the thing was smirking.

"Oh so that's how you want to play then?" asked Ranma, starting to smirk, "Well I have one too. Moko Takabisha!"

The blast hit the thing head on, sending it up in the air. Once again though, Ranma saw the thing seem to use empty space as a platform to recover in midair. Rolling into a ball, the machine started dropping bombs in midair, forcing Ranma to retreat again.

As soon as the machine landed, Ranma shot forward like a bullet, hoping to start an attack before the thing could get its land legs back throwing away the cumbersome umbrella as he did so. He wasn't disappointed either, as the thing barely had time to shoot off a missile before Ranma was engaging it at close range.

Just as Ranma had expected, the machines melee skills were not on par with its ranged skills. While it was a decent hand to hand fighter, it was easy to tell Ranma had the upper hand. Grabbing the gun arm, Ranma pointed it away from his body and unloaded a single handed chestnut fist into the things upper body, finishing up the combo with an uppercut that sent the machine flying off the stage…

…or so he thought. Once again, to Ranma's expectations, the thing performed a midair recovery jump, but it was too far away to get back on to the stage. Then, once again to Ranma's amazement, the thing brought its knees to its chest and started glowing white, and then suddenly the thing launched into a second midair jump, spinning rapidly, gaining just enough distance to get back onto the stage.

"Well that was pretty damn convenient," said Ranma, starting to get a little annoyed. How many techniques did this thing have? He didn't have time to think though, the thing was charging up another one of those blue energy blasts.

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Marth wiped the sweat off his forehead and pressed the towel to his face. He had just finished his three stock match with Mewtwo, ending up in a humiliating loss for him with a 0-2 finish. While it was better than the time when Mewtwo had skunked him, it was still embarrassing.

Taking his limiters off, Marth shouldered his towel and walked out towards the lobby. As he walked out of the lobby he glanced over to the match viewing TV screen where several people were watching the final match of the evening take place. He was just about to leave the lobby when Roy called over to him.

"Hey Marth, you might want to watch this, some new kid is taking on Samus!"

"New kid? Do we have an ID on him yet?"

"Nope. Master Hand hasn't announced anything either so we're all wondering who he is."

Curious, Marth walked over to the TV screen just in time to see a black haired boy do a wild midair twist to dodge Samus' missiles, returning fire with his on energy blast, which Samus also dodged.

"What are the match rules?"

"One stock no time limit since it's a new fighter. He's holding his own pretty well considering he doesn't even have a double jump. Samus hasn't even knocked him off the stage yet," responded Link who was sitting on the couch, "I wonder if Master Hand planned this."

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Master Hand smirked to himself as he hacked into the Ygdrassil database to retrieve Ranma's folder. It felt good to defy the gods, especially since they were constantly complaining about his disregard for the laws of the universe.

"Screw em," he said to himself as his fingers flew over the keyboard. How else was he supposed to run a fighting arena for the best if he didn't have the best? Bringing up Ranma's file, Master Hand started to read.

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Ranma grumbled to himself as the thing retreated and started firing missiles again. Apparently the thing had gotten enough of his melee skills and was trying to play it safe. He couldn't afford to wear himself down by repeatedly throwing ki blasts at it and it could just retreat again if he tried to engage in melee. To top it all off, the whole arena was flat so there were no obstacles to hide behind either.

BAM!

And judging by the sheer amount of missiles the thing had already fired, it wasn't going to run out anytime soon. He needed a new strategy.

Then, as the thing was charging up another energy blast an idea hit him. Focusing as hard as he could, Ranma charged up his own energy blast, but before he released it, he forced the energy back inside of him. The feeling made him feel like his veins were on fire.

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Samus paused for a second as her opponent fell to his knees in pain. A blue like energy pulsated out from his body briefly before it died down to a faint glow. Slowly, the boy stood up to full height, as if the effort took everything he had. Finally the boy got into a fighting stance and opened his eyes, now glowing a brilliant golden color.

Samus didn't waste any time in firing another barrage of missiles, some tracking and some power. The golden eyed kid waited until they were almost upon him before dodging at a speed that belied his previous pace.

She didn't even had time to fire another missile before he was right next to her, his glowing hand reaching for her. In desperation, she pointed her gun right into the boy's chest as he did the same to her.

"LION'S ROAR!"

She didn't need to say anything for her blast, it spoke for itself.

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Marth shielded his eyes as a white light suddenly illuminated the screen, blinding everyone in the lobby.

"Who won?" asked Link, watching the fading screen intently.

No one spoke for a few seconds, and then the loud announcer voice shouted, "GAME!"

Finally the screen cleared and Marth saw Ranma, hanging on to the edge at 98 damage. Samus was nowhere to be seen.

"Someone get to the locker room, that kids gonna need help standing up after that shot," said Roy suddenly, snapping everyone out of their stupor.

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Ranma groaned as he pulled himself back up onto the platform. Per the usual with new techniques, he was almost completely drained of energy. It was a good thing that the final blast he fired sent that machine type thingy into the stratosphere.

Limping over to where he had thrown the umbrella, Ranma picked it up, using it as sort of an unsteady crutch.

"Now what?" he asked to his surroundings. As far as he could tell, there wasn't any way out except for jumping off into the dark abyss and he wasn't in any hurry to go there seeing as how he sent the machine type thing down there.

**Greetings Ranma!**

Ranma nearly jumped as the voice came out of nowhere, "What the…where are you?"

**I am not actually in "that" place right now. You're in a pocket dimension fighting arena.**

"Oookay, so how do I get out of here?"

**Normally after the match is over you'd automatically be transported out, but since we don't have ki sample from you for our transporter, we're going to have to do it manually. Sorry for the inconvenience.**

"So what do I do then?"

**Just step on that white circle over there.**

"Sounds easy enough."

**Don't worry; someone will catch you on the other side.**

"Huh? What the heck do you mean by tha…?"

Ranma didn't get an answer as white light enveloped him and his body started to disappear. His awareness of the arena faded, being replaced by a completely new environment and voices started filling in the deafening silence.

"Careful now, he's coming through."

"Don't open it until the light shows green, these transports take time."

Ranma slowly opened his eyes only to find himself staring into darkness, "Hello?" He called out uncertainly.

"He's up! Open it!"

**Pssssssht**.

There was a sound of hissing steam and the sound of metal moving. Finally, the pod cracked open allowing light to leak in, illuminating a room with a few people in it.

"Are you doing okay?" asked a guy in a green tunic when the pod opened fully.

"I…think so…" Ranma responded uncertainly. Hesitantly he tried taking a step forward, only to stumble straight into the guy with the green tunic who caught him easily. Ryoga's umbrella tumbled unceremoniously out of his hand and on to the ground, making a spider like crack in the floor.

"Someone grab his stuff," the green tunic man ordered, "And someone help me get him to a room." Carefully, the green tunic man put his arm around his shoulder. He felt someone grab his other arm and turned to see none other than the machine he had just fought earlier supporting his other side.

"What the…" said Ranma, about to wrench his arm out of the machines grip. He didn't have the strength to break that machines hold though.

"Something wrong?" asked the man as he noticed Ranma staring at the armored suit.

"Wasn't I just…you know…fighting that thing a second ago?"

"Well yeah, it was a pretty good fight too."

"You mean it's not trying to kill me?"

"Um…no. Why would she?"

"Well I dunno, I just thought…wait a sec…she?!"

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Master Hand sighed and saved the file to his computer. It wasn't the worst he had seen but it was still pretty bad.

A slight buzzing sound in the back of his head alerted him to an unwanted presence even before he appeared. Groaning, Master Hand spun the computer screen around so that the monitor was facing away from him just as Jodah; lead technician of Ygdrassil came through the screen.

"You really think this is funny don't you?" asked Jodah as soon as he fully materialized. He had long black hair and brown eyes, standing a good six feet off the ground, a small circular mirror in his hand. He was cloaked in the common white apparel of the gods but the look on his face right now would have befit a first class demon.

"Actually I think it was quite amusing, it's not every day that you get to see Ranma come up with a new technique like that in the middle of battle."

Jodah slammed his fist on the desk, bringing his face an inch away from Master Hand's black visage, "You don't get it do you? Do you think these other dimensions just fade into the background when they loose important people like Ranma?"

Master Hand didn't respond but Jodah didn't seem to be expecting one, "The answer is they don't. If we're lucky, they get thrown into chaos, becoming dens for the shadows of evil with none to oppose them, causing a serious imbalance in worlds. And guess who has to clean up the mess?"

Master Hand sighed and didn't say anything. He had had several versions of this same conversation with Jodah before and found that he left quicker if he didn't argue with him. It wasn't as if he was going to listen to him anyways.

Snarling at his unresponsiveness, Jodah reached a hand into the mirror, causing it to ripple like water at his touch. When he withdrew his hand, it now firmly clutched a silver colored CD.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked mockingly, catching the light with the CD and playing around with it.

"It's a CD," responded Master Hand simply, "Used to hold data, files, music, and other such things."

Jodah smirked, "Usually true, but in this case no. This CD holds the executioner program. All it would take is a few clicks of a mouse and your little pocket dimension would be nothing but a memory."

Okay now that was new. However, Master Hand still had once ace up his sleeve, "And of course, you being such a diligent hard working god, have Kami Sama's permission to do this of course."

Master Hand smiled to himself as he saw Jodah mentally deflate and replace the CD within the mirror, "Every time you break into a new dimension for your little arena makes my boss a little less merciful to your cause. You would do well to remember that." With that Jodah dived back through the monitor and was gone from the office.

"What a depressing guy, eh?" he said seemingly to himself.

_He seemed rather serious this time,_ Responded a voice in Master Hands head.

"Kami Sama isn't going to order the destruction of a dimension with so many leading characters in it. Not only does it go against everything he stands for but it also would create more problems that it would solve."

_True, but if there's one thing I know about Jodah, its that he can't really see the bigger picture beyond what is placed in front of his desk._ _We might have to consider the fact that he could go rogue at any time..._

"Trust me brother, I'm always considering."

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"You mean to tell me that I got the living crap beaten out of me by a _girl_?" asked Ranma.

Ranma felt a sharp, almost painful, tug on his supported right arm. Turning he stared into the girls green visor which stared back as if to say "You've got a problem with that?"

Wisely, he decided to shut up.

"Man this thing has some nice weight to it," said a voice behind him. Turning he saw a blue haired man with a sheathed sword and a cape picking up his, or rather Ryoga's, umbrella. Experimentally, he swung the umbrella as he would a sword, getting a feel for the weight.

"Too heavy for me to use though," he said shouldering it, "You carry this thing around all the time?"

"Not really, I stole it from a guy I knew right before I came here."

Marth shrugged and started leading the way out of the locker room, Ranma and his two supporters bringing up the rear.

"By the way, who are you guys?" asked Ranma suddenly realizing he had no idea who they were.

"I'm Link from the land of Hyrule," responded the man on his left, "That's Samus; I'm not sure where she's from actually."

"She uh…doesn't talk much does she?"

Link was about to answer when the door in front of him opened up and a burst of applause and cheering suddenly filled the previous vacuum of silence.

While Ranma had had his share of the supernatural and unreal, it still took his mind some time to process the twenty odd humans…or rather creatures…that now stood in front of him. Most of them were human but scattered among them were animals and demi-humans with animal characteristics.

"That was awesome!"

"What the heck was that blue thing? I though Mewtwo was the only one who could…"

"Where did you come from?"

"What's your name?"

"Are you single?"

Ranma jerked his head up at that last comment but the person who said it didn't step forward. People continued pelting him with questions until Marth finally stepped in front of him, "Alright that's enough, you'll have plenty of time to pester him later. He needs rest right now."

The chattering died off and the crowd dispersed, allowing Samus and Link to lead Ranma through the lobby and to the door on the other side.

"Where the heck am I anyways?" asked Ranma as the door opened up into a long hallway.

"You're at the Super Smash Brothers Headquarters, made for the best fighters in the galaxy to participate in friendly fighting competition," responded Link, "And of course to fight in the occasional tournament with incredible prizes."

Ranma merely nodded, the fatigue of his earlier ordeals catching up with him. He was now being half drug by his supporters down several long hallways that he could barely keep track of.

There was silence for a few more minutes before Marth finally stopped at a door with a computer screen on it. Typing in a few numbers, the blue haired swordsman pulled up a new menu with some names on it.

"It looks like he's bunking with you Link, there's a message from Master Hand telling him to get some rest and come see him first thing in the morning."

"Who's Master Hand?" asked Ranma tiredly.

"The arena master," Marth said simply, "Link, throw me your card."

Link reached into his pocket, withdrew a card and tossed it to Marth who inserted it into a slot, "And here's your home for the evening."

The room was built simply but comfortably. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room and a small door, probably leading to a walk in closet, on the side. A single lamp on an ornately carved wooden dresser between the two beds filled the room with light and a single window opened up onto a cloudy sky.

Ranma didn't need much more of an invitation than that and promptly flopped onto the bed and fell asleep.

"Well, that didn't take long," said Link after a brief silence. Quietly Link and Marth left the room. Samus paused at the doorway, looking back at the prone martial artist before giving him a small salute and leaving the room.

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	3. Chapter 3

A/N: A complete rewrite of chapter three. Once again I realized that the chapter was a grand total of about four pages, not to mention a bit redundant seeing as how I was explaining everything in the third chapter again. I also added a bit of back-story to the whole arena.

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**Chapter 3- The Next Morning**

Waking up a person like Ranma is an art in and of itself. If you try to wake him up too gently, you're likely to not get a reaction at all. If you try to attack him, he'll likely just dodge all of your attacks and kick your butt, while still staying asleep. For the longest time, people have tried using water to wake him up but this would usually lead to a very brutal fight with a very temperamental Ranma, or in a girl's case, a very loud and heated argument.

However, none of these methods was quite as effective as the one Link tried on Ranma's first morning at Super Smash Bros. HQ.

"Hey Ranma you up? I have some breakfast for you."

_**ZHOOM!**_

Link barely had time to blink before a black and red blur passed by him slightly under the speed of sound. When he opened his eyes, Ranma was sitting on his bed already devouring the tray with superhuman levels of speed.

"Maks Mink," said Ranma through a mouthful of food.

"No problem."

Ten seconds later Ranma had finished the food and set the tray on the dresser between their beds, "So are you a fighter here too?"

"Yep, I and about twenty others make up the whole Smash team."

"Only twenty?"

"Well, Master Hand is pretty picky about who comes to the arena. He only chooses people who show great potential or have great potential. And," Link lowered his voice until it was just above a whisper, "I hear its been pretty hard for him to get fighters lately because he stepped on the toes of some higher ups if you know what I mean."

Truthfully Ranma had no idea what Link was talking about but he decided not to inquire.

"So what happens now?" asked Ranma after a brief moment of silence, "I mean the foods good but I'm kinda lost on what's going to happen now."

"Oh yeah," said Link suddenly, "I'm supposed to take you to meet Master Hand."

"The arena master? Why does he want to meet me?"

"Probably to draw up a contract with you," said Link shrugging his shoulders, "Can't say for sure though. All the contracts are different but everyone who's been to his office came out completely satisfied."

"What did you get out of your contract?"

"A safe haven."

"Huh?"

Link sighed, put his hands behind his head and lay down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, "About two years ago my homeland fell under a curse by a man known as Ganondorf. Previously I had trapped him the divine realms using the power of this artifact called the TriForce. Unfortunately, Ganondorf wasn't killed, merely contained. Over time he weakened the barriers surrounding his prison due to the part of the Triforce he still possessed."

"Woah, back up. What the heck is the TriForce?"

In response Link held up his right hand. On it was a glowing image of a gold triangle made up of three smaller triangles. Of the three triangles, one part was shining brighter than the other two.

"These three triangles represent each piece of the TriForce. Wisdom, power, and courage. When Ganondorf first tried to steal it, it split into three pieces. He inherited the power side, I got the courage piece, and my X got the wisdom piece."

"Your X?"

"A different, longer, and more boring story not related to this."

"Oh, sorry," said Ranma apologetically.

Link waved him off, "Eh, no biggie. Anyways, to make a long story short, Ganondorf broke through the divine realm and flooded Hyrule; making it so only the mountains were left, remaining as islands. I was away at another country at the time and was too late to stop him. Doing the only thing I could think of, I escaped through a portal in my world but somehow ended up here in a fight with Marth, kinda like what happened to you."

"Did you win?' asked Ranma curiously.

"Actually no. Marth really handed it to me, but I've gotten stronger since then," responded Link smirking to himself.

Another silence settled over the room but this one was less tense than the last one.

"Oh crap," said Link sitting up suddenly.

"What?"

"We still need to get to Master Hand's office, come on we gotta hurry," Link quickly grabbed Ranma's arm and pulled him out the door.

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Ranma watched impassively as Link flashed his ID card in front of another reader and opened up yet another door. There had been about three of these doors all on their trek to the elevator.

"What's with all the security anyways?" asked Ranma as they started walking again.

"Unfortunately, Master Hand has his fair share of enemies who would just love to get access to all the high tech equipment and data files stored around here. It's a valid precaution if you ask me. Here we are."

Link swiped his card in another reader slot and opened a set of elevator doors. Walking inside, Ranma saw a large control panel with the numbers one to twenty on it.

"Twenty floors?" asked Ranma curiously.

"Floors one through five hold the fighters quarters along with the lunch room and the rec room, floor six holds the item warehouse, floor seven is the pokemon rec room, floor eight is the vehicle storage room, floor nine is a record room. All the fighters' records, data, KO counts and stuff like that are put there. We're going to floor twenty, Master Hand's office."

"What about floors ten to nineteen?"

"No one really knows," said Link regrettably, "Some say those floors hold the secret to Master Hand's success, others say that its just some storage space for other fighters if any more decide to come."

"What do you think it is?"

"Personally, I could care less," Link admitted, "I just came here for the food and the fights."

_DING!_

"This is your stop," said Link as the elevators opened up onto another hallway, "See you around, maybe."

"You're not coming?"

"These meeting are private business; they don't leave the office unless you want them to. Besides, Master hand wants you to make your own decisions, not be influenced by someone else."

Ranma was about to ask Link something else but then the elevator door closed, leaving him alone in the short hallway leading to Master Hand's office.

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"Come in Ranma,"

Ranma paused in mid-knock and slowly lowered his hand. Cautiously, Ranma opened the door and stepped into Master Hand's office.

The first thing that came to mind when looking around Master Hand's office was that of a principal's office. The office was built very plainly, a few hard wood chairs placed in a semi-circle around an oak desk, behind which sat Master Hand, reading a file labeled Ranma Saotome, a picture of his girl form and his guy form attached to the front.

"Please have a seat," said Master Hand, putting down the file, letting Ranma get a full look at his face.

The best way to describe it was…odd. Master Hand didn't have a face or really any distinguishing features at all. Where his head should have been, there was merely a black sphere in the shape of a head, and a black suit covered the rest of his body from the neck down. The only thing that stood out about him was the two pure white gloves he was wearing.

Tentatively, Ranma took a seat in one of the chairs facing Master Hand.

"Ranma Saotome, age 19, recently enrolled in Furinkan High School and recently returned from a 10 year hiatus into the out-backs of China complete with a Jusenkyo curse and a phobia of cats, correct?"

Ranma nodded confirmation. He was surprised that the man knew his history but then again, he didn't really keep it a secret.

"Of course you already knew that. On the other hand, here's some stuff you probably didn't know. It says here in your folder," Master Hand pushed the vanilla folder forward for Ranma to look at, "That you have been engaged twenty three times by one Genma Saotome, also known as your father."

"What?"

"Sorry, my mistake. Twenty four times. Genma also engaged your girl side to that Kuno character."

Angrily Ranma snatched the folder and started thumbing through the pictures of the various girls he now had attachments to.

"Who are these people?" asked Ranma. He didn't remember any of them from his training trip.

"I believe these were all engagements prior to your birth,"

Ranma's right eye twitched, the hand that wasn't gripping the folder slowly balled into a fist. Master Hand continued on as if he didn't notice.

"Your father Genma really gets around you know that? If I didn't know any better I'd say he knows a few dimension hopping tricks himself."

"Dimension hopping?"

"Well, consider the following. Besides the three problems you have in Nerima, he's also managed to engage you to each of the six sailor scouts for various food and clothing items and you've never seen them since."

"No complaints there," said Ranma sarcastically, "Where else did my old man get to?"

"Well aside from those girls he also engaged you to a cat android robot girl named Nuku Nuku for an illegal passport, some girl named Videl for training under and defeating Hercule, Demon Etna of the netherworld arranged by the overlord himself, Angel Trainee Flonne arranged by the Seraphim himself, and, though it pains me to say it, he did manage to engage you to Kodachi Kuno for a large sum of money."

Ranma's mind was in a mild form of shock as he flipped through the folder as Master Hand read of the names like reciting a poem from a book. Along with the demons and angels he had also managed to engage him to Lucia, (a devil hunter) Gina Diggers (an arranged marriage for a single gold piece), Shion Uzuki (for a plane ticket), Rikku (arranged by Cid for letting Genma stowaway on his airship), Kairi (for a boat ticket), Kagome Higurashi (for several scrolls on demon banishing), Rosaline (arranged by a man named Lord Yago), and a set of twins named Dawn and Eve (for a guide out of a magical land called Xanth).

The martial artist tried to talk but no words would come out of his mouth. Slowly Master Hand reached over and took the folder out of Ranma's hands, still not getting any response from him.

SNAP!

Ranma jumped in his seat as if waking from a trance, he was about to start speaking again but Master Hand interrupted him.

"However that is all in the past now."

"It is?"

"Indeed. While your father may have had the unique ability to get around dimensions I doubt that any of your prospective brides will find you here."

"I don't want to run away from my problems," said Ranma reclining back in his chair and looking at the ceiling, "That's the easy way out."

"You still hold this view even knowing that these are mostly Genma's problems?" asked Master Hand folding his hands and placing them on the desk.

"Well yeah, but it's not like I come off clean either."

Inwardly, Master Hand smiled, "Well then, let me give you a little extra incentive." Reaching under his desk, Master Hand opened a drawer and handed Ranma a sheet of paper.

"Super Smash Bros. universal tournament," Ranma read aloud, "Think you're the best? Then come prove it against fighters from across the multiverse. The winner of this tournament is granted one request from Master Hand."

"A request?" asked Ranma, looking up from the paper.

"A wish basically," clarified the Arena Master, "But wishes take things too literally and out of context if you know what I mean. A request though, that's a bit more open ended and broad."

"So…you're telling me that if I win this tournament then you can get me out of all these engagements?"

"If being the key word though," said Master Hand, "There's a lot of powerful fighters here. If you don't want to compete and go back to Nerima I'll understand…" he let the sentence trail off.

"Please," said Ranma as if he was talking to a child, "Don't write me off that quickly. I can win that tournament no problem."

Master Hand smiled, though no one could really tell. He was pushing the right buttons, "Then are you willing to draw up a contract?" From under his desk he produced another piece of paper with Ranma's picture on it and a place to sign.

At this Ranma paused, Master Hand obviously wanted this contract pretty badly, which probably meant he was getting something out of it that he didn't know. Slowly, he withdrew the pen he was about to use to sign it.

"Something wrong?"

"I dunno," said Ranma, "This contract just seems…"

"Suspicious?" Put in Master Hand finishing Ranma's sentence for him, "Then let me tell you what that contract will give you. First off, this contract is legally binding for two years, in which you will be considered an employee of this arena. During the length of your stay here, you will receive free room and board and medical assistance. We also reserve the right to limit and ban any techniques you might have in the spirit of a good fight. In return, we are not reliable for any injuries you might sustain."

Ranma processed that for a second, "Why are you not reliable for our injuries if you include a medical department here?"

Master Hand shrugged, "That's just something my lawyer insisted that I put in to stop people from suing me. But that's basically the whole contract right there."

"So what do you get out of it then if I'm an…employee of the arena?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, not everyone in the multiverse shares our views on inter-dimensional traveling and fighting. Other times, people who come here bring some of their home world problems with them, and yet others only wish our destruction."

"I don't follow."

"Basically, this means that your part of the Smash Bros. Community. If one of your fellow fighters needs help with a problem then we help him…or her. If someone seeks to destroy our arena, then you fight for us."

_It almost makes me sound like a Samurai defending my master…_thought Ranma. Signing this contract would mean that he was in it for the long haul, and there was no backing out either.

"Think for a moment Ranma, what do you really want out of life?" asked Master Hand, interrupting the martial artist's train of thought.

"That's easy, to become a master in the art and to improve myself." That was any martial artists true goal, as it was impossible to completely master the art and one could always improve himself.

"Then you'll fit right in here," said Master Hand pushing the contract forward again, "First and foremost, we're a fighting arena and we always will be."

Ranma looked carefully at the contract, "Alright, but I have one final question. What do you really get out of this? I mean, anyone can protect your arena."

The martial artists could have sworn that Master Hand had smirked when he said that, "Alright you caught me, the real reason I want you here is not only because you're a great fighter, but also because you have a large following," he indicated his file, full of the girls pictures, "This arena always needs new blood, I think good things will happen if you're with us."

Ranma couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Oh you have no idea what you're in for," he said reaching for the contract. Using the pen he signed his name on the line at the bottom and handed it back to Master Hand who stuck it in his file.

"And that's that then." He said with an air of finality, "You can go ahead and take the elevator to the first floor. I'll have someone meet you there to show you around and such. You're free to go."

Ranma got up and was reaching for the doorway when Master Hand said one more thing, "Oh and Ranma?" The martial artist turned around to face the arena master once again, "That contract works two ways you know, if any of your problems show up here, then you'll get help this time."

Smiling despite himself, Ranma exited the office and began his walk down the long hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

I changed so much stuff in this chapter its not even funny. I'll let you figure it out for yourself.

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**Chapter 4- The Grand Tour**

It occurred to Ranma as he was walking out of the office that he wouldn't be able to access the elevator without a keycard like the one Link had. Wondering for a moment if he should go back, Ranma's doubts were put to rest as he saw that the elevator doors were already open.

Remembering the Arena Master's words, Ranma punched the button for the first floor and waited. His mind was still spinning from the meeting though. Master Hand said that people came here for a good fight but he didn't look like a fighter himself. He wasn't even dressed for combat like everyone else here seemed to be.

Naturally, the first thing he had done when he had entered the office was do a ki scan of the Arena Master but he had found no trace of anything remotely resembling life energy.

"_Maybe I'm being too paranoid,_" thought Ranma to himself, "_He could just be really good at hiding his ki_." But another part of his mind still told him that Master Hand might not be entirely…

"Ranma?"

The martial artist looked up startled. Distracted by his thoughts the elevator had already opened up, revealing his tour guide to him without him noticing.

It was yet another testament to his life in Nerima that Ranma didn't immediately attack the creature that was gazing at him. Standing half a head taller then him was the strangest turtle/dinosaur hybrid he had ever seen. He stood upright on his hind legs, his front claws built for attacking rather than walking. Spikes adorned his shell and his eyes burned red as if there was a fire behind them. To complete the look, two sharp horns graced the top of his head, making him look like a prefect monster.

"Um…yeah that's me," replied Ranma after a moments hesitation, "Are you my tour guide?"

"Yes," he replied extending a claw forward, "The name's Bowser, from the Mushroom kingdom."

Careful to avoid the sharp points Ranma took Bowser's appendage and shook it, "Names Ranma, from Nerima I guess."

"Oh, before I forget, this is for you," Bower brought forth his other claw and produced a shiny round disk shaped object with a small red button on it, "A little housewarming gift from Master Hand."

"What is it?"

"The double jump; specially produced for the Smash Bros. Arena."

"Double jump?"

"You remember in your fight with Samus how she seemed to stand on thin air for a second to get back onto the stage?"

"Yeah, every time I knocked her off the stage she always seemed to recover in mid air and do an extra jump, I couldn't even see how she was doing it."

"That's the double jump. When the arena first started Master Hand thought that the fights were too short, so he supplied this TM for everyone to use."

"TM?"

"Technical Machine. A device from Mewtwo's world."

Ranma didn't know who Mewtwo was but he shrugged and began following behind Bowser as he plodded through the hallways.

"The most important thing you have to remember about fighting in the Smash arena is that you need to knock your opponent out of the level your on. You can sit there and kick em around all day but you won't win unless you're the last one standing on the stage."

"Er…no offense but it seems like that would be impossible to throw you anywhere."

Bowser gave a deep chuckle, "Normally yes, but this type of fighting is anything but normal. When you take a hit, you still feel some of it, but the impact is significantly lessened. Instead, you accumulate damage."

"And…what does that do?"

"The more damage you have, the farther you fly," he said simply.

Ranma took some time to mull that over in his head, it was vastly different from his usual fighting style but it had similarities.

"Just like learning a new fighting style," said Ranma to himself as he eyed the TM Bowser had given him. Without a second thought, Ranma pressed the red button.

A flash of light radiated out from the TM and hit Ranma square in the head. Information flooded his mind as the new technique went through his brain, ingraining itself in his conscious so he couldn't forget it.

Next thing he knew, Bowser was steadying him, carefully trying not to slash him in the process, "Steady there Mr. Saotome," he said, "Learning a new technique like that's quite a rush."

Ranma steadied himself and nodded his thanks to Bowser, itching to try out the new move. His mind was already building possibilities.

A couple more minutes of walking brought them to a large double door, "This is the mess hall," said Bowser flashing his keycard in front of the reader, "There are always cooks on duty here so you can come and eat here pretty much any time you like." The doors opened up onto what Ranma could best describe as a culture shock.

While he had seen most of the people that were gathered in the room when he had finished his fight with Samus, he had been half unconscious then. Most of the people there were human; he saw Marth and Link sitting over at one table with Samus and some girl he had never seen before, but some tables held completely different species.

A gigantic yellow mouse like creature was sitting with two pink round things, talking in a completely alien language of squeaks, grunts, and some hand gestures. They didn't appear to be talking the same way but apparently they understood each other just fine.

Suddenly the talking at the table stopped as the yellow mouse spotted Ranma, "Pikia Pika!"

Ranma scratched his head, "Um…am I supposed to understand that?"

Bowser chuckled, "The only one who can understand them and translate is Mewtwo," explained Bowser, "But I think he's inviting you to sit down."

The Martial Artist shrugged and walked over to the table, "I could use something to eat." The spiked turtle took a seat next to him.

"Pika pikachu?" asked the mouse as he sat down. Although he couldn't understand a single word, it was easy to tell what he asked.

"Yeah I'm a fighter here now, my names Ranma." He provided his hand for Pikachu to shake, "What's your name?"

The yellow mouse pointed a paw at himself and said, "Pikachu!"

The pink round thing sitting next to him also gestured at herself and said, "Jigglypuff!"

"Pikachu and Jigglypuff are Pokemon," provided Bowser, "They came here with Mewtwo."

"Who's Mewtwo?" asked Ranma as he shook hands with Jigglypuff.

"Master Hand's right hand man, no pun intended."

"So…who are you?" he asked towards the second pink blob that was sitting on his other side across from Jigglypuff.

"That's Kirby," provided Bowser before Kirby could respond, "He hasn't quite mastered any recognizable dialect to say his name yet."

"How did Master Hand draw up contracts with all these people if none of them can speak?"

"Mewtwo, once again. He doesn't talk like normal people do, he talks with telepathy."

"Tele-wha?"

"Telepathy, or rather mind speak."

"Jiggly jigglypuff!"

It was by far one of the most bizarre conversations that Ranma had ever had. Half of the time it was obvious what the creatures were asking but other times the pokemon had to go as far as using charades to make the two understand.

A loud bump interrupted their conversation, announcing the arrival of the food as the kitchen doors banged opened. In walked several turtles, almost mini versions of Bowser except without the horns and the spikes, walking upright pushing three carts loaded with food.

"Relations of yours?" asked Ranma as he observed the humanoid turtles serving their food.

"Minions actually," said Bowser as he accepted a tray from one of them, "Thanks koopa."

Ranma accepted his tray from a turtle with a red shell and began eating at his usual pace. Although it wasn't Kasumi grade cooking the turtles knew how to make a meal. Ten seconds later Ranma set his tray down, noticing the looks his companions were giving him for the first time, "What?"

"Waaah!" said Kirby drawing Ranma's eyes to him as if to say, 'Watch this!'

The pink blob closed his eyes for a second and then opened his mouth impossibly wide. Then a sound like a vacuum cleaner turned on and the whole meal that was sitting before Kirby was sucked into his mouth, tray and everything.

Ranma blinked. Kirby burped. Ranma's had shot up to intercept the fork that went flying towards his face.

"Now that was impressive."

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"So where was everyone else?" asked Ranma as they exited the mess hall.

"Off fighting. During the day one on one league matches take place between the fighters. At the end of the year the person with the most wins gets the reward."

"And that is…?"

"Only the people who win know that."

Ranma shrugged, he'd just have to win to find out then, "So where are we headed to now?" he asked.

"The rec room, located one floor up."

Ranma hadn't noticed but they had complete circle, coming right back to the elevator that Ranma had ridden earlier that morning, "Um…no offense or anything but isn't there a weight limit on these things?"

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The recreation room was quite nice, sporting several different activities including a mini arcade, pool tables, a swimming pool and, what Bowser called, a holographic room.

"It's basically a sports room using the same dimensional technology Master Hand uses for the arenas. It can also be used as a training room against some specially made wire frames."

"Wire frames?"

"Dummy bots, built for the sole purpose of being pounded on. Want to try it out?"

Ranma shrugged and walked over to the door, "Sure, I haven't gotten my morning workout yet."

Bowser chuckled and walked over to the console by the door. Pressing a few buttons with his claw, the door opened.

"I'll have to adjust a few things once you get inside since this is your first time. Go ahead and step on in."

Ranma walked through the doorway and into an incredibly unspectacular square room with blue walls. Other than a small terminal on the far wall, there was nothing about it that seemed futuristic.

"Can you hear me?" said Bowser's voice from above.

"Yeah I can…so where are the enemies?"

"In good time, right now I need you to move to the wall with the terminal on it. You need to input some information"

Ranma did what he was told and walked over to the computer. Typing slowly, mostly because he was inexperienced, the martial artist gave the computer several small details about himself including his weight, size, and age. When he pressed enter, a wall next to the computer suddenly opened onto a pair of bracers, much like the ones he was wearing.

"Go ahead and put them on," said Bowser before he could ask a question. Taking off his old ones, Ranma replaced them with the light metal ones.

"So what are these for?"

"Smash fighting works a little differently from your normal brawls. Normally you'd be able to kick around an opponent until he collapses from damage but you can't do that here. If you want to beat your opponent you have to throw him off the stage, into the "Out of Arena" area. You can do this by knocking him off the side, throwing him downwards, or hitting him into...as people in Japan say…LEO."

Ranma nodded his head having heard the explanation already, "

"Take a look at the bracer on your left arm."

Ranma looked and saw a digital readout with three numbers and a percent sign next to it. It read three zeros.

"The bracer on your left shows the amount of damage you've taken from attacks and other things. The more damage you take the further you fly from an attack. Getting more damage will also slightly fatigue you just as if you were in an actual fight."

Ranma nodded in understanding, "So basically all I have to do is beat up my enemy and sent them flying after they have enough damage? Sounds easy enough."

Bowser chuckled, which came out as more of a deep slightly sinister laugh, "Oh it sounds easy alright, but I think you'll find this kind of combat just as intense as the regular brand of fighting. Now, one more thing before you begin, if you'll take a look at the bracer on your right arm,"

The martial artist looked and saw another mini screen, this one showing a tiny picture of his face, "This readout displays how many lives you have. Regular smash combat tends to go by rather quickly so you can usually get knocked out of the arena three times before you're finished for good.

"Alright I get it. Can I start now?" He asked a bit impatiently.

Outside Bowser smiled, he was just like a kid who had found a new toy, "Alright then, beginning simulation, stage Battlefield."

Ranma watched in fascination as the room around him began to disappear, morphing into an arena similar to the one he had fought Samus on, but with an additional three circular platforms rotating slowly around its perimeter.

"Begin program fifty man melee."

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Bowser watched fascinated as the martial artist proceeded to tear apart the spawning wire frames faster than they could appear. His speed rivaled Sheik's but unlike her he had the power to back it up and send people flying with ease.

He also noticed that Ranma was having incredible fun using the double jump technique, using it to wall kick in the air, push off the air downwards to launch at his opponent, and generally just run circles around the wire frames. Ten of them had already fallen within the first fifteen seconds.

"_Interesting."_

Bowser hadn't even heard the person who had came up behind him. Reacting on instinct, Bowser turned around swinging…only to find his hand abruptly stopped inches away from Mewtwo's head, held by an invisible force.

"Heh…sorry about that," said Bowser sheepishly as he retracted his claw.

Mewtwo looked unfazed as he walked over to the monitor which showed Ranma fighting the wire frames. He had just knocked off number thirty and had only taken 24 damage.

"_It looks as though my next opponent is going to be a fun challenge indeed."_

"Wait…your NEXT opponent?"

"_Haven't you heard? Mr. Saotome in there is set to be in the league matches starting tomorrow."_

"Tomorrow? Don't you think that's a bit soon? I mean, he just started using the equipment today!"

"_Not at all," _said Mewtwo still focusing on the screen, _"he seems to have adapted quite quickly really."_

Bowser looked back at the screen to see that Ranma had finished off the last of the wire frames in forty seconds flat.

"_Hmm, I believe he just topped my record of forty-two seconds as well. It shall be very interesting indeed." _With that Mewtwo turned around and glided off.

There was a loud pssssssht and the door to the holo room opened.

"Well how was it?" asked Bowser leading Ranma back to the elevator.

"Meh, too easy," said Ranma offhand, "The guys didn't really put up much of a fight and they flew off the stage too quickly for me to really get going."

"I'll be sure to introduce you to cruel melee sometime then," After all, not even Mewtwo could survive longer than thirty seconds in that hell, "I see you liked the double jump TM."

Ranma's grin said everything.

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"And this here is our item factory."

Ranma looked up in awe at the story high shelves that lined the warehouse like room they had just entered, filled with tools, equipment, and some things he had never even seen before. There were some obvious ones like some black bombs and baseball bats, but some things were completely alien like the long line of red and white balls near a stack of green turtle shells.

"So what are these for?"

"To make a fight more interesting and unpredictable, Master Hand had these items specially commissioned from various universes to randomly appear on the arenas. Remember the golden rule of smash bros, chaos always makes for a better fight."

Ranma decided not to mention all the times where the chaos in his life had made for some horrifically bad fights. The Hiryu Shoten Ha fight with Happosai came to mind almost immediately.

Shaking his head clear of memories best left forgotten, he began browsing the items on display, "What's this one do?" he asked curiously picking up a green shell and spinning it on his finger.

"You'll want to be careful with those," cautioned Bowser stepping back slightly, "They may be small but they pack a lot of punch."

Shrugging, he lightly tossed the shell back onto the shelf. That's when things went to hell.

The curious thing about the green koopa shell is that while it is one of the hardest items on earth and can withstand almost any amount of force, if you so much as breathe on it, the poor traction it has could make it slide for a mile.

Thus, the slight toss Ranma made was enough to send the shell careening down the shelf, knocking off the other assorted items on display. Most bounced harmlessly to the ground but one item, specifically a red and white ball shaped item, fell to the ground and opened in a flash of light.

"Um…Bowser?" queried Ranma as he slowly backed away from the lightshow, "What's going on?"

The koopa king only has time to shout, "DUCK!" before the light faded and revealed a blue turtle. Ranma stood there dazed for a few seconds wondering why a turtle was so threatening (even if it was only slightly smaller than Bowser), before seeing the two giant cannons on its back.

Coincidently, if this strange beast had shot anything else from his cannons such as, laser beams, cannon balls, or maybe even energy blasts, Ranma would have been able to dodge it no problem. However, this particular pokemon fired the bane of Ranma's existence.

"BLASTOISE!" it cried before shooting a jet of high powered water at Ranma. Needless to say, he didn't have a chance in hell of dodging it. Along with the curse activating, he also made quick friends with another shelf behind him holding more of the red and white balls of terror.

Things quickly degraded into chaos after that. Several new colorful pokemon were released from their balls and began releasing their attacks into the factory, knocking over more items and…well you get the picture.

"_**STOP!"**_

Ranma-chan, who was almost on her feet again, fell backwards into the shelf again from the voice inside her head. Her ears hadn't heard anything at all but her mind could feel the bold lettering on the command. All movement in the factory stopped, except for one stupid orange and white fish still flopping around on the ground.

Looking up, Ranma got his first look at one of the most powerful pokemon in existence. Standing a head taller than his girl form and probably a few inches above his guy form, the purple pokemon gave off an aura that dwarfed Saffron's. Hovering above the ground, Mewtwo glided into the midst of the carnage as if it were taking a casual walk.

"_All of you are to return to your pokeballs. Do not come out for the rest of the day. Before you make complete fools of yourselves again, look around for an opponent before using your attack."_

Ranma fought the urge to return to her non-existent pokeball. The pokemon obviously hadn't noticed her and forgot to block the mental command he gave her.

Bowser sighed as he gathered up the pokeballs and placed them back on the shelf. The purple pokemon walked over to a red button and pressed it, causing an alarm to sound from somewhere.

The martial artist watched amazed as several turtles with helmets on (much like the ones that had served her meal) walked in with tiny hammers and began cleaning the place up. If she didn't know any better, she would have guessed that this had happened before. Several times it seamed. The turtles seemed very adapt in making repairs and everything was quickly returning to its organized state.

A clawed hand reached out to give her a hand up out of the rubble. Ranma-chan took it only to almost be dropped back into the rubble as Bowser took his first look at the transformed fighter.

"Uh…Ranma? Is that…you?" asked Bowser, surprise showing on his face.

The pokemon also seemed shocked even though it was impossible to read his expression, _"I thought the Ranma Master Hand recruited was a male."_

_Out of all the pokemon I could have gotten I had to get the water one didn't I?_ Thought Ranma indignantly, _Fire pokemon? Nah, getting burned would have been too easy, no we got to put Mr. Saotome in another embarrassing situation and go through another long winded explanation. God damn I hate Jusenkyo._

Sighing softly Ranma-chan began with an all too familiar catch phrase, "I'm Ranma Saotome…sorry about all this." At least this time she actually had something to be sorry for.

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"So you're telling me that this place…jukunkyo,"

"Jusenkyo."

"Whatever, so you're telling me that this place makes it so you turn into a girl when hit with cold water?"

"And a guy with warm water."

Mewtwo looked thoughtful, _"So I guess the obvious question is are you…"_

"I'm a guy," said Ranma before Mewtwo could finish the thought, "I always am and always will be no matter how I look."

The purple pokemon walked over to the broken shelf where some water had pooled on the ground. Raising his hand Mewtwo closed his eyes and concentrated. Ranma felt the spike in energy and watched amazed as the liquid on the ground rose up and formed into a ball in Mewtwo's hand.

Opening his eyes, Mewtwo moved the water over to where Bowser was standing, _"If you would?"_

"Stand back," warned Bowser. Taking a deep breath, the koopa king breathed out a small stream of bright yellow flames towards the water, heating it up in seconds. When Bowser stopped, Mewtwo moved the water over Ranma's head before dropping it onto him, transforming him back into his birth form.

"_Simply amazing," _thought Mewtwo, _"A reversible evolution triggered by water."_

"A what?"

"_Never mind," _thought Mewtwo waving him off, _"Don't worry about the mess, this happens all the time around here. More importantly, are you ready for your first fight tomorrow?"_

Ranma grinned, "Naturally."

"_Then I'll look forward to fighting you as well."_

"So you're my opponent huh? That's good; I'd really hate to have a pushover in my first round." Ranma didn't look the least bit intimidated that someone with nearly twice the power of saffron was his opponent. It was hard to tell if it was just bravery or foolishness.

Standing on the side, Bowser sweatdropped as the two looked at each other with their most menacing glares (at least, as menacing as Mewtwo's expressionless face could get), slightly flaring up their ki as if trying to show superiority. They probably would have stood there all day if he had let them.

"Um guys, lets try not to destroy the item factory twice in one day okay?"

Ranma had the grace to look sheepish as he deflated his aura to his normal size. Mewtwo did the same although he remained expressionless.

"We should make our way back to the dining hall," continued Bowser, "Master Hand should be giving his dinner speech tonight. I hear he's going to be announcing the double-battles tournament tonight."

"Double battles?"

"What, you thought that all these fights were one on one? A sub-dimensional arena can hold up to ten people at a time with a few guys in limbo, but matches around here usually don't go beyond four people, otherwise it just turns into a mess."

Mewtwo stayed behind to supervise the last of the cleaning while Bowser and Ranma moved towards the dining hall.

"How do they determine who your partner will be?"

Bowser snorted, "Hell if I know. The last time I participated in the double battles tournament two years ago they paired me up with Peach of all people!"

"Um…who's Peach?"

"Oh that's right, you really don't know anything about me do you?"

"No not really…"

"Well then, let me introduce myself, I'm Bowser from a place called the Mushroom Kingdom. It all started one day when my dad told me about the right of initiation. In order to become a true Giga Koopa, I had to kidnap a princess…"

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"Wait, so you're telling me that he dropped the bridge out from under you?" said Ranma trying his best not to laugh.

Bowser looked perturbed, "Hey it wasn't my fault! I didn't even build those castles, I just took them over! Besides, it's not like I just left the freaking axe out in the open like that!"

"So what happened after that?"

"Meh. I got dropped in the lava, which really doesn't hurt me at all, and plotted my revenge which involved me kidnapping Peach again."

"That easily? I would have thought she would have beefed security after the first time she got kidnapped."

"Yeah well her security force consists of a bunch of people who have mushrooms for heads. Mario is just the plumber; he's not actually a subject. I've kidnapped peach about five or six times now and all mushroom head did was call Mario and his brother Luigi every single time."

Ranma chuckled, he knew that feeling. What was that? Akane got kidnapped by a strange Chinese guy? Better go rescue her, its not like anyone else will. Oh what's that? The mighty phoenix lord has Akane in his clutches? Better pack my bags; I don't think emotional baggage is going to rescue his daughter anytime soon. That's me, Ranma Saotome, bodyguard service twenty four seven, 365 days a year including leap years and holidays.

The rest of the walk was in relative silence, Bowser and Ranma musing over their thoughts. A couple minutes later and they were standing outside the dining hall for the second time that day.

"Well what do you think?" asked Bowser finally, pausing before the great hall.

"It's an awesome place but is there, you know, any place outside this building?"

Bowser smirked, "I was wondering when you were going to ask that question," Going over to a window that Ranma hadn't noticed the first time he passed it, Bowser pulled open the shade.

Ranma was nearly blinded by the sunlight he hadn't seen for hours. From his viewpoint he could see several Western style houses and a large mansion in the background. Beyond that was a field that seemed to stretch on forever.

"W-w-what is this place?" asked Ranma shocked. Culture shocked didn't even begin to describe how he felt now.

Bowser openly laughed at Ranma's expression, "I lied when I said that this was merely Smash Headquarters. All these houses hold the workforce of this arena, the ones who assist in battle, and the pokemon who make things interesting. This isn't just a Smash Headquarters; this is a Smash Planet, home of the ultimate fighters."

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One thing I've been seeing in a lot of fics lately (and not just Ranma fics either) are that most poorly written fics have a tendency to try and fix everything at the same time (most commonly seen in Harry Potter and Naruto). Determined not to do that, I decided to leave the Neko Ken unmentioned in this chapter to be used as a plot device for later on.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I wanted to release this earlier but one of my pre-readers had yet to get back to me. After two weeks of waiting I decided to go ahead and post this anyways. Once again, I'm still looking for pre-readers. PM if you're interested.

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Even though he had been there a mere two hours before, the dining hall looked completely different. Instead of the long tables that had been set up during lunch, there were now several smaller round tables spread out in front of a stage and the lights were dimmer, giving the place a restaurant type feel. There was a quiet lull of conversation at each table but as soon as the doors opened the talking feel silent as everyone turned to look at the new arrivals.

Ranma felt a little awkward. Bowser had gone off to sit with Peach and Mario leaving him standing in front of the doors wondering where to sit. He wasn't exactly shy, but he barely knew any of these people…it didn't help that everyone was still staring at him.

The doors opened again and Ranma felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he came face to face with the visor of Samus. Pushing gently, the ranged fighter steered Ranma over to a table where Link and some girl he had never seen before were sitting. Nodding his thanks Ranma sat down between Link and Samus and flipped through the menu that was in front of him.

"Well, how was your tour?" asked Link

Ranma shrugged, "Pretty good actually. I tried out the holographic room and almost destroyed the item factory with a turtle shell."

The girl next to Link chucked softly, "So it's happened to you too huh? I don't think there's a single person here who hasn't destroyed it. My name is Zelda by the way."

"Ranma Saotome," said the martial artist glancing over the menu. Most of the things on it were Japanese but there were some western style foods as well.

Silence dominated the table. Another Koopa came to take their orders and left. Samus merely gave the turtle a nod without saying anything.

"You know, not that I'm complaining or anything," said Ranma attempting to break the silence, "but how exactly does Master Hand pay for this kind of stuff?"

"Sponsors," provided Link, "The fights that take place here are aired on national television. Seeing as how the show stays in the top ten networks year-round Master Hand can charge a small fortune for a 30-second advertisement slot."

"So what did you think of Master Hand?" asked Zelda before the silence could overtake the table again.

"He's…" Ranma paused. What did he think of Master Hand? The guy seemed nice enough but he had no ki signature or anything that could mark him as human. Not to mention he knew things about his life that he didn't even know, "…a little weird." He finished lamely.

Zelda smirked knowingly, "Everyone gets that impression at first but he has his head in the right place…unlike some other all-powerful beings."

The slight frown on Link's face didn't go un-noticed.

"So which god did you piss off?" asked Ranma throwing tact out the window.

Link and Zelda both winced. Ranma felt a hand on his arm. Turning he saw Samus giving him a small shake of the head, telling him without words to drop the subject.

"Sorry," said Ranma quickly. Desperately he reached for another topic of conversation before the un-comfortable silence could fall on the table again, "I've angered my fair share of people too. This one guy, he's still after my hide all because I stole some bread from him in Middle School…"

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"Wait," said Link trying to get his laughter under control, "so you're telling me that you just jumped over his head and he ran straight through the school trying to find you?"

"Yeah and I didn't see him for three days after that either."

Zelda chuckled quietly while Link laughed out loud. Next to him Samus' suit was also trembling although no noise came out. During their talk the koopa cooks had taken their orders and left. Now they were returning with the plates. Having eaten a mere two hours ago, Ranma had ordered a fairly normal sized meal instead of his usual feast.

While they were eating, Ranma at a semi-normal pace for once, the newly initiated Smash Fighter kept them entertained with stories of his homeworld. He had just gotten to the story of Happosai's awakening when the lights suddenly dimmed and a bright spotlight lit the stage.

"What's going on?"

"Master Hand's making a speech," provided Link, "He does it every night when something big is about to happen."

Without further flair or formality, Master Hand casually walked out from behind the curtain, onto the stage and began speaking into the mike.

"As many of you have suspected, this day marks the fifth anniversary of the creation of the Super Smash Bros world." The statement was met with some casual applause, "On a more interesting level though, this day will mark the official start of a brand new member joining us. Please give a hand for Ranma Saotome from Nerima!"

The last word was practically shouted into the Mike. The spotlight moved over to where Ranma was sitting and Samus pushed him to his feet. Ranma just stood there awkwardly with his hand behind his head not sure what to say.

"Furthermore, our guest has served one other very important purpose, because we now have an even number of competitors once again. Therefore, I am re-opening the double-battles tournament!"

This was met with applause and a few whistles.

"Once again, pairings will be completely random, the listings are set to go up one month from now, so until then, enjoy the remainder of the league season."

Ranma clapped along with everyone else. Master Hand held up his hand for silence, getting it instantly.

"Finally, I have wonderful news for all of you. In two years time we will be holding the ultimate tournament, the ultimate test of strength, skill, and endurance. Things are about to start picking up around here again. New challengers will be coming out of the woodwork, new items are being developed in our factories as we speak, Smash HQ will never be the same again. This is a high stakes fight, in which the winner will receive one single unfiltered, no strings attached wish from the gods themselves!"

Dead silence met his statement. He didn't seem to be expecting a response though and left through the curtain. The silence lasted for another second before excited whispers and talk began circulating the room.

_I can't believe it_, thought Ranma, _I could actually get a cure! A real honest to goodness cure from the gods themselves!_

So wrapped up in thought, he almost missed the sudden exchange between Zelda and Link.

"You know what this means right Link?"

"Yeah. This is what we've been waiting for."

"Huh?" said Ranma clueless.

Link sighed, "When Master Hand drew up our contracts, he promised us that an opportunity to restore our land to its former glory would come along. I think this is it."

Recalling his conversation with Link earlier that day, Ranma nodded, strangely serious for once, "Man, it makes my problems seem pretty small in comparison."

"Really?" asked Zelda curiously, "What would you wish for then?"

"Well, I've had this particular curse hounding me for a while now," he admitted picking up a glass of water.

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"Thankfully it's not as bad as some of the curses my rivals got," finished female Ranma as he poured the hot water on himself, "Hell, I'll take turning into a girl over turning into a duck any day."

Zelda smiled, "Ranma I don't think your problems are insignificant."

"Huh? But I…"

"Your problem is merely different from ours, not any less important."

Ranma really didn't know what to say, it was the first time he could remember actually getting sympathy for the curse instead of just a casual "whatever" or a table to the head.

Zelda's smile turned mischievous, "Of course, that doesn't mean that we're going to go any easier on you."

The martial artist countered with a smile of his own, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"What would you wish for?" asked Ranma suddenly turning towards Samus. Her only response was a shrug of her mechanical shoulders.

The four of them finished their meal in comfortable silence; even Samus who had somehow eaten all of her food and had placed her helmet back on before Ranma had even finished drinking his water.

Half an hour later, Ranma and Link were slowly walking back to their dorm in silence, the meal making them somewhat drowsy. They were standing in front of the dorm room when Link paused in mid-motion, about to swipe his card.

"Hey…Ranma…can I talk to you for a bit?"

His drowsiness faded. Something told him that this conversation would be significantly more serious than their dinner conversation, "Sure…what is it?"

"Not here," he said shaking his head, "Come on…follow me."

Curious, Ranma followed as Link led him back to the transport room where he had first fallen out into the locker room.

"Computer," said Link suddenly, "load the level Hyrule Temple, stock match one no time limit, two fighters."

Two of the four metal cylinders opened up, Link stepped in one, "Well come on."

Ranma cautiously got into the other one.

TRANSFER LINK. TRANSFER RANMA.

The martial artist looked around wondering where female voice had come from but didn't see any speakers around. With a snap, the metal door closed in front of him leaving him in darkness for a second.

SCANNER LINK. SCANNER RANMA.

A bright light came on inside the scanner while smaller light displays raced across the wall of the tube.

VIRTUALIZATION.

Ranma closed his eyes as the light around him became blinding. He heard the sound of wind and felt his hair rise.

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READY!

The martial artist opened his eyes as the angel platform disappeared out from under him, dropping him softly onto the stone ground.

FIGHT!

Ranma looked at Link walking towards him, his sword still in its sheath, "Are we fighting?" he asked curiously.

"Meh, if you want to. I just thought this would be a good place to talk that all," Link walked over to the edge of the level and sat down, "So what do you think of it?" He asked, waving a hand behind himself to indicate the level.

Bewildered Ranma turned away from Link to take in the surroundings. The arena was incredibly big compared to the stage he had fought Samus on and had a lot more detail as well. It appeared that he was in a sort of ruins with debris scattered haphazardly around. On the surface it didn't look like much but he could distinctly feel a mystic quality in the air.

"Bit of a fixer upper," said Ranma trying to sound casual. The lame joke died in the wind, "I can feel a…presence here," said Ranma a bit more seriously, "Like some sort of… timeless energy. It doesn't feel like ki but it…ah I dunno."

Link nodded sagely, "This is last piece that remains of my homeland under the waves."

Ranma didn't say anything but it didn't seem like Link was expecting him to, "When I got back to the land of Hyrule after helping the oracles of season and time, it was raining. Not just a small drizzle, but sheets of freezing cold rain. Water was already starting to gather in pools on the fields around the castle."

The martial artist sighed and sat down beside Link, "So what did you do?"

"I raced my horse, Epona, back to the castle as fast as I could. Along the way I passed many people fleeing the towns and castle. Everyone looked at me as though I were crazy for wanting to go back. When I got there, it was worse that I feared."

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"Take only what you can carry and no more! Leave behind your valuables and possessions. Only bring what you need to survive!"

Link paused momentarily to take in the scene. Standing in the market square was Zelda along with several guards rushing people out of the city. Water was already starting to overflow from the sewer systems under the castle-town.

Frantic, the Hero of Time dismounted his horse and ran towards Zelda. A couple of guards tried to get in his way but he merely pushed them aside, "Zelda!" he practically shouted, "What's going on?"

Zelda turned around, shocked at the sound of the voice; after all, Link had been gone for nearly a year on his never ending hero's quest, "Ganon's escaped," she said after a moment's hesitation, "He's launching an attack from the divine realms using all the power he saved up during his imprisonment. He's flooding the land." Despite the seriousness of the situation, she was calm, cool, and collected as someone of her stature required.

"How is this possible?" asked Link practically shouting, "The gods themselves imprisoned Ganon in the divine realm why can't they do anything about it?"

"I've tried Link," she admitted miserably, "They're not responding. I can't even reach the great sages."

"What are we going to do then?"

"I've done everything I could. I'm sending the people of Hyrule to Death Mountain. Hopefully the waters won't reach there."

Link wanted to do something. Anything. If there was one thing he hated it was being powerless.

"The deku sprout," he said suddenly.

"What?"

"The deku sprout. He's connected to the gods. Maybe he can tell us what we can do to stop this."

"Link, that tree is only a child not even a century old. What could he-"

"Would you rather sit around and do nothing?" Link shouted, "That tree is the only connection we have left to the divine realm! At the very least he can tell us why they weren't able to keep him captive!"

Zelda turned away, "Do what you must Link but I have to get these people to safety. I cannot afford to place my hopes in some obscure chance."

The Hero of Time didn't say anything. Angrily he walked over to Epona and mounted her, "Then let us hope princess," he said icily, "that you never have to place your hopes in me again."

It occurred to him as he was riding away from the palace that things were never going to be the same between them again.

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The deku's grove was surprisingly dry compared to everything else. Dark storm clouds had blotted out the sun but the small enclosed forest sill gave off a feeling of peace even while the land was being submerged around them.

"I've been waiting for you Link." Said the sprout as the Hero of Time jumped off his horse. The deku sprout had grown during Link's adventures and was now taller than him.

Mentally Link celebrated, his gambit had paid off. It was a good thing too as the fields were pretty much impossible to ride on now. Hyrule field was more like Hyrule swamp.

"Please tell me you can do something about this." Link said straining to keep his voice calm.

"I am sorry Link, but there is nothing I can do. There is, however, something you can do."

"What is it? Tell me!"

"You need to escape Link."

Link couldn't hold it anymore, "Do you mean to tell me that after all this shit we went through to imprison him the only thing I can do now is run away?! Where in the hell are our gods in charge of the divine realm? What happened to our so called "Great Sages" who were supposed to stop this from happening in the first place?"

"Link," said the deku sprout softly after Link had finished, "the great sages are dead. Ganon cast them out and took control of the divine realm."

The small tree continued seemingly oblivious to Link's shocked look, "Even in the divine realm, it was impossible to separate Ganon from the Triforce of Power. Over time he gathered enough stored power to fight against his imprisonment. It is impossible for people to actually die in the divine realm but the sage's spirits have been cast far enough to the edge of the universe to be considered dead to us."

"There is nothing left for you to do here Link, but if you escape you can come back and fight again. Use your Ocarina to warp to the temple of time and pick up Zelda, then warp to the forest temple. I will use the last of my power to open up a portal to a place where you can train and grow stronger. Then you can come back and defeat him."

Numbly, Link took out the Ocarina of Time, "What about everyone else?"

"Zelda had the right idea. This flood will not reach to the mountain peaks. Most of the humans have already escaped and I don't think the Zora's will mind the change that much."

"What about the Kokiri, the people staying here?"

"I have already sent them to Death Mountain. They will have to learn to live with growing old and eventually dying, just like everyone else."

Link tried but he couldn't stop a few tears from coming to his eyes, "It's so unfair, after all we've been through our victory is destroyed again."

"No one likes feeling useless," counseled the tree, an invisible wind ruffling its leaves in imitation of a sigh, "but if you remain there will be no hope for Hyrule. At least this way we have a chance."

"What about Epona?"

"I will put her in a suspended sleep. She will neither age nor drown. The magic will last for three years. Hopefully that will give you enough time."

Link couldn't think of anything else to say. With a final pat of his horse, Link took out the familiar blue Ocarina and played the song of time.

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"When we went through the portal, we ended up in the smash arena. I lost spectacularly to Marth and Zelda lost narrowly to Samus. Master Hand met up with us and promised us that in two years time, he'll give us a chance at resurrecting our home-world if we stayed and fought at the arena. With tonight's announcement, I'm sure this is the opportunity we've been waiting for."

Ranma had been silent during Link's story. His life had been pretty bad but to have your home-world essentially destroyed just when you thought you had saved it? That was downright cruel.

"That's…uh…pretty intense," he said awkwardly.

"I've only known you for an incredibly short time," began Link again after a moment of silence, "but I feel a sort of…kinship with you."

"Well…thanks. I think you're a pretty cool guy too, but why did you bring me here?"

Silence hung in the air for a while, Link looked as if he was trying to gather the courage to speak.

"I want to ask something of you," he admitted finally, "as one friend to another."

"What is it Link?"

"I know that this is going to sound complete self-centered and selfish but I'm desperate. I don't want it to seem like I'm using you but…"

"Link, spit it out already. What did you want to ask me?"

The Hero of Time took a breath, "Alright, I want your help. I want your help restoring my homeland. Zelda may be above begging other people for help but I'm not. Please Ranma, Zelda and I can't do this by ourselves, not against so many others."

A few hundred thoughts flashed through Ranma's head at that instant. If he was getting what Link was saying, he wanted him to use his wish, provided that he won the tournament, to help restore his land of Hyrule instead of curing his curse.

Logically, it was a bit selfish. He wanted Ranma to use a once in a lifetime opportunity to save a bunch of people and a land he didn't even know about.

_But that doesn't make them any less important._ Said his conscience.

"I don't want to feel like I'm pressuring you into this. If you don't want to help me we can still be friends. I won't hold it against you."

If Link had used any other argument, had attempted any other form of persuasion, the martial artist probably would have refused, but Link had mistakenly done what no one in Nerima had ever thought to do. He gave him a choice.

"_You must marry Akane Tendo, the schools must be joined!"_

"_Shampoo is already your bride. You don't have any choice in this matter."_

"_Oh he wants Akane, definitely."_

"_Ranma is my fiancé you jackass, his father stole my dowry!"_

"_So will you be paying your debt or are we going to have some camera time?"_

"_Pigtailed girl I love you!"_

"_OHOHOHOHO! Ranma is mine you hussy!"_

The list went on and on and on.

"Ranma?"

The martial artist shook himself out of his private flashbacks, "Sorry," he said silently getting up, "Link, I've decided. I'm going to help you."

Link smiled and stood up next to him. Extending his hand Link said, "The people on your homeworld must have been very lucky to have you around, well, except maybe that Ryoga fellow."

Ranma smirked and shook his hand, "Lucky? Heh, they wouldn't have been able to survive without me."

"So, I heard you beat the record for fifty man melee in the holo room today."

"Heh, those guys were nothing. It was like fighting several different versions of my tomboy fiancé. By the way, how are we supposed to get out of here anyways?"

"Well this is technically only a stock one match so if one of us dies then we'll be able to get out."

Link's smirk said everything. Both fighters looked at each other for a couple seconds before jumping away. With a ring, Link's sword was in his left hand, his shield in his right. Ranma was standing on top of one of the smaller pillars, ready to spring at a moments notice.

"Swords work a little differently in this arena than in the real world," explained Link eyeing Ranma carefully, "Instead of a cut, you'll feel a blunt impact but depending on where I hit you'll take damage accordingly."

"Thanks for the info but I probably won't be feeling anything," said Ranma cockily.

Link only smirked, "I haven't been fighting at this arena two years for nothing you know." And with that Link threw his sword into the air.

Slightly shocked, Ranma automatically looked towards the sword and almost missed the small expenditure of ki sign of something being pulled out of stuff space. Jumping off the pillar, Ranma dodged the boomerang coming towards him, only to have to duck suddenly as an arrow whizzed over his shoulder.

Before he could reorient himself Link had jumped into the air, caught his sword and was performing a down-slash on him. Unfortunately he didn't have enough time to roll out of the way and took a partial blow to the shoulder.

Like Link had said, the sword hit with a blunt impact that staggered him a bit but didn't actually cause a cut. Realistically, he could have reinforced the limb with his ki to prevent the damage but had he not known that trick the blow probably would have taken his arm in the real world.

Ranma used the momentary recovery period of Link's down-slash to launch his own counterattack. He was able to score a couple hits before Link shifted his sword to a one hand grip and brought out his shield and began deflecting the attacks.

The two traded blows for a few seconds, neither of them gaining a clear advantage over the other. A few seconds later and they jumped away from each other, Ranma standing on top of one pillar and the Hero of Time on another. However, the martial artist barely had any time to recover before Link had pulled something round and black from his stuff space and threw it at his pillar.

Having fought Mousse on several different occasions, Ranma could tell with reasonable certainty that black round things tended to explode when thrown so he leapt off his pillar to the ground, only to have to dodge another arrow which had been released as soon as the bomb had been thrown. He dodged that just in time for the boomerang to hit him in the face, sending him staggering back.

_This guys timing is incredible! _Thought Ranma as he started zigzagging towards Link's pillar, mindful of any other projectiles he tossed out, _but he seems to only use four different weapons._

With a graceful double jump, Ranma kicked Link off the pillar. He had deflected it with his shield but the force behind the blow was enough to knock him off anyways. Touching off the pillar, Ranma shot towards Link in midair, drawing on the Saotome Mid-Air Combat techniques to hit Link three times before kicking him to the ground.

Utilizing his double jump again, Ranma soared backwards, firing off a ki blast where Link had fallen. It didn't connect however. With one hand, Link pushed off the ground into the air, drawing his bow in mid motion. Arrows came flying out of the dust cloud generated by the ki blast, one catching him in the shoulder. Quickly he retreated behind the pillar.

Taking a quick glance at his bracer, the martial artist gaped in surprise. They were both at exactly 44 damage. Link had traded him blow for blow in the space of twenty five seconds.

_Time to pour on the speed then,_ said Ranma mentally as he prepared to dash out into the confrontation. However, the decision was made pre-maturely as another bomb began rolling towards him. Smoothly, Ranma back flipped onto the pillar and launched himself back first at the Hero of Time.

Predicting his moves correctly, Ranma turned in midair just right to dodge the projectiles coming at him. Now facing him, the martial artist saw that he had already drawn his shield and sword, preparing for the inevitable melee that was about to happen. He was coming at him too fast for him to throw any more projectiles now.

Link wasn't very fast; he'd be the first to admit it. When fighting he tended to rely on his tools and timing to make up for it. However, when it came down to a close combat fight the sword at his side wasn't there for decoration.

Ranma on the other hand was incredibly fast, to the point of getting a speeding ticket every time he ran to school (if they could ever catch him that is). He didn't carry weapons because they would only slow him down.

The two forces met with a bang. Expecting a shield block against his initial attack, Ranma instead kicked off the air right before he would have impacted and jumped to Link's back instead.

Counting on a quick retaliation; as soon as he hit the ground Ranma dropped into the splits and felt the air pass over his head from the counterattack. With quick efficiency Ranma karate chopped Link in the leg, staggering him. Pushing off the ground with both hands Ranma proceeded to unleash a double foot kick into his face.

The attack didn't stagger Link as much as he would have hoped. Reaching behind his back, Link withdrew a tool he hadn't seen yet. It was colored blue with a small wicked looking claw at the end of it.

With a small pop the claw rapidly extended towards him like one of Mousse's chains. Unfortunately he wasn't in a very good position to dodge it and the claw caught on the material of his shirt. Before Ranma could even react, the chain attached began to retract, pulling him towards Link.

He wasn't caught long though. As soon as he was in range, Link kicked him off the chain into a wall. Moving quickly, Link was able to score another hit with his bow before Ranma peeled himself off the wall. He had just notched a second arrow when Ranma seemingly disappeared, moving at a speed that belied his previous pace.

Slightly panicked, Link released the arrow where he thought Ranma was going to be but before it had even left the string Ranma was there, pushing his bow slightly to make the arrow fly a mere inch past his face. Before he could even draw his shield Ranma had sent him flying towards the edge.

Flipping over in midair, Link used his second jump to keep moving backwards while still firing arrows at Ranma's rapidly approaching blur. Three arrows later and he had landed on the largest pillar in the arena, located right near the edge of death.

Hyrule Temple was a rather big place. The distance Ranma had to cover was great enough for Link to land on the pillar before the martial artist could get there. Instead of jumping up to meet him though, the new Smash Brother rammed his shoulder into the pillar, shattering it.

Momentarily surprised, Link reacted quickly enough to jump off the pillar right next to the edge, drawing his boomerang and sword simultaneously. He predicted that he would only be able to get one throw off before having to engage in melee again.

Words could not describe how shocked he was when instead of rushing him like he expected, Ranma grabbed the falling pillar and, turning in a circle to gain momentum, flung the entire pillar at him. His boomerang was uselessly batted aside and his sword flew from his hand, making him temporarily incapable of performing his triple jump.

_It doesn't really matter though,_ thought Link as he saw the death zone on the side of the level fast approaching.

"GAME!"

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"That…was intense," said Link as he tumbled out of the transporter.

Ranma nodded. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but Link had coxed some serious speed out of him while only moving at about half the speed he was. If Link had been up to his level in speed then it probably would have been very different fight.

Wiping the sweat away from his brow, Ranma caught his breath, "Why are these matches so tiring?"

"The way this fighting system works automatically brings you to full power for the duration of the match and now your body is feeling the after effects. Unless you get to 100 damage in the course of a match you won't feel much fatigue. It's the best way for two fighters to push each other to their limits."

Ranma mulled that over in his head. Basically what Link was saying was that the fighting program coerced his body into fighting at full power no matter how tired he really was. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to think of that.

"Isn't that a little…dangerous?"

"It can be," Link admitted, "Casual matches are usually stock one. In the official league matches the standard is stock two. In tournament level matches, however, the stock rises to three. Any more than that is pretty much guaranteed to put you out for the day. The most anyone was able to go for was seven and he had to have a day and a half bed rest afterwards."

"Who managed that?"

Link smirked, "Mewtwo, the guy you're fighting tomorrow."

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"So is it real?" asked Ranma as he was walking back to their room.

"Huh?"

"Is the fighting…real? I mean, it felt real but we're only fighting in a virtual world aren't we?"

Link thought for a minute, "Take a look at your arm Ranma."

Ranma pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to see a small bruise forming where Link had connected with his sword.

"It's not so much a virtual world than a different world. Everything you do in there you'll feel out here and vice versa. The only reason why it's called a virtual world in the first place is because it was programmed outside of the divine realms."

"Um…so that means its real then?" asked Ranma slightly confused.

Link chuckled realizing that his explanation was a bit more than Ranma was looking for, "Yeah, its real."

"If you…die in a match would you die…for real?"

Link sighed, "Well, I suppose you would," seeing a shadow pass across Ranma's face he quickly amended, "but there are literally hundreds of safety features in place to prevent that from happening. These tournaments have been going on for five years now and the worst thing that's ever happened to someone was coming out of the transporter unconscious."

"Who did that happen to?"

"You remember that seven stock match Mewtwo had that put him in bed for a day and a half afterwards?" Ranma nodded, "Well his opponent Marth didn't get off so lucky."

"Marth? You mean that guy you lost to?"

"That's the one. Marth had been here since the arena's opening along with Mewtwo. He's quite possibly one of the best swordsmen in the world. He was the top fighter here for nearly three years, but then Mewtwo decided to participate in the annual three stock tournament. It was surprising because even though he was the first one at the arena, he'd never competed."

"So what happened?"

"Well, Mewtwo and Marth fought their way through every other competitor and met in the final match. And when they fought on final destination, Mewtwo skunked him."

"Skunked?"

"He beat him without losing a single life. As you can probably guess it was a bit humiliating for him. As soon as he had rested enough he re-challenged Mewtwo to a championship match at seven lives."

Link swiped his card and opened the door to their room. Ranma was so engrossed in their conversation he hadn't even realized where they were. Still talking, Link started to un-equip all of his weapons, placing them carefully in a small closet at the foot of his bed.

"In the end, Marth lost, albeit narrowly. Even though Mewtwo hardly acknowledges it, Marth still holds a grudge against him and considers him his rival."

_And that doesn't remind me of someone I know,_ thought Ranma sarcastically, "So how many weapons do you carry with you anyways?" he asked changing the subject.

"I carry five into the arena," explained Link stepping away from his closet to reveal his bow, boomerang, sword, the strange grapple mechanism, and a brown bag with a picture of a bomb on it, "but in my adventures I've managed to get quite a collection."

Opening the other side of the closet Ranma was fascinated by the sheer variety of tools he saw there. True, he had seen Mousse carry just as much weaponry as Link but his weapons held little variety comparatively.

Before Link shut the closet Ranma saw a slingshot, a gigantic two-handed sword, a harp, a small brass tube that looked like a gun, a blue colored boomerang, several differently colored flutes, a couple masks, and a gigantic metal hammer.

"I'll bet there's an interesting story behind those things. You'll have to tell me about it sometime."

Link laughed, "Maybe someday, like when we're both retired and have a year or two of downtime on our hands."

Ranma laughed along with Link, "I'll be sure to take you up on that, provided we make it to retirement with our problems following us."

Link finally hung his shield and closed the closet door. With his green hat still on, he flopped down onto the bed, "You know Ranma, with you backing us up, I really think we can going to win this tournament."

"Naturally," said Ranma confidently.

"I wonder if you'll still be that cocky after you fight Mewtwo tomorrow." Said Link jokingly.

"Please, I define cocky," returned Ranma humorously.

"True," remarked Link thoughtfully, "If only your fighting skills were as big as your ego then we'd have this tournament in the bag no problem."

"If that was the case then I'd only need half my ego to win." Retorted Ranma

Many people can look back on their lives and remember a time when they sat down and had a good conversation with a friend. Ranma was not one of those many people and found himself liking the new feeling. As he slowly let sleep come to him, Ranma convinced himself that it was well worth giving up a wish for Link's friendship. It was probably better than anything the wish could have brought him anyways.

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A/N: Another complete revamp. This story is going to follow the same path as the original but I'm trying to flesh it out a bit to set myself up for when I go beyond the Smash Arena. That isn't going to happen for awhile though.

I will try to respond to all of my reviews. They're the only thing I'm receiving for writing this and I like to acknowledge them.

And now for something completely different.

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-Omake-

Ranma stumbled out of the scanner, wincing as he felt the bruise on his shoulder, "I thought you said it wasn't real."

Link reached into his tunic, pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on, "Your mind makes it real."

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-Omake- (By Samboke)

"So how many weapons do you carry with you anyways?" Ranma asked changing the subject.

"I carry five into the arena," explained Link stepping away from his closet to reveal his bow, boomerang, sword, the strange grapple mechanism, and a brown bag with a picture of a bomb on it, "but in my adventures I've managed to get quite a collection."

Ranma reaches into the chest and pulls out a small book with Zelda in a bikini on the cover. "What's this?"

Link snatches it away with a red face. "Nothing!"


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Keep sending in your questions if you have them

You probably want to kill me right now but if you do, this fic will take even longer to finish.

I can summarize my lengthy absence in four very powerful words. Super Smash Bros Brawl.

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Ranma's eyes snapped open at 5:59 AM on the dot, exactly ten seconds before his father would usually try and throw him out the window. Mentally, he prepared himself for a fight.

Ten seconds passed, and nothing happened. Then another ten seconds passed, and still nothing happened. After a few seconds Ranma realized why nothing was happening and mentally hit himself for acting stupid.

Glancing over to Link's bunk, Ranma saw the Hero of Time still soundly asleep. He briefly entertained the notion of waking him up for a spar but realized that it would make him remarkably similar to his father, and if Ranma had one goal in life (besides martial arts) it was to be as different from him as possible.

Looking down at himself, the newly initiated Smash Brother also realized that he was wearing the same clothes he wore the day before. While he didn't exactly mind re-wearing the same thing day in and day out, the two fights he had in the arena, and the one against the wire frames, had really taken a toll on them.

_I guess I could get a workout there, _thought Ranma remembering the Holo room. Kicking off the blankets, Ranma put his shoes on and walked out of the dorm room and into the hallway.

It only took him two seconds to remember that he needed a card to get anywhere in the building, but by then the dorm room door had already closed behind him.

_Well crap. Now what? _Quickly he considered his options. He could try breaking the door down but he didn't think it would go over very well with his employer. Not to mention the materials looked a lot sturdier than the average Nerima wall.

Briefly he tried pounding on Link's door but that only helped him figure out that Link was just as heavy a sleeper as he was. Walking to the end of the hall, Ranma was just about to try and force the door open, consequences be damned, when a voice stopped him.

"Going somewhere?"

The martial artist turned around and came face to face with blue eyes and blond hair. The girl carried herself like a fighter and had a Smash Brother ID badge pinned to her…….clothes, if you could call the skintight blue bodysuit she was wearing clothing. At her side there was a small holster that held a high tech looking gun.

Realizing that she had asked him a question Ranma tore his eyes away from the weapon and looked at her face, "Not really. I forgot I didn't have a keycard yet."

The girl walked in front of him and flashed her card to the door, which promptly opened. Ranma followed after her, "It's not surprising really," she said as she led him down one of the buildings many corridors, "they don't look like much but they're pretty high tech pieces of equipment."

Suddenly she stopped and turned around and extended her hand, "By the way, my names Sara Musaan. You must be Ranma Saotome, the new fighter here right?"

"Yeah that's me," said Ranma taking her hand and shaking it gently. She responded by giving his hand a squeeze that would have broken a normal mans fingers.

"I heard you get to fight Mewtwo today," said Sara offhandedly as she led him towards the mess hall.

"Well yeah, should be an interesting fight. He's got a decent aura."

Sara smirked, "Decent? Mewtwo has enough power to light a third world country for a couple days."

Ranma sighed, did everyone in this bloody arena feel that it was their sworn duty to tell him how powerful Mewtwo was? Just because someone had power didn't mean they knew how to use it. Something Ryoga and Saffron probably should have learned before messing with him.

Instead of saying that though, Ranma responded in typical fashion, "What's your point?"

Sara sighed, "I can't tell if that's overconfidence speaking or just plain recklessness."

Ranma was getting slightly annoyed now, "Hey, just because you may have gotten your ass kicked by this guy doesn't mean I should just roll over and let him pound on me alright? No one's invincible."

Sara shook her head, "Your sound a lot like Marth you know that?"

"Heh, with the way you guys act about him, I'm beginning to think he has the right idea. I don't care if he eats screws for breakfast, unless he weighs a couple tons then he'll fly out of the arena just like anyone else."

"_Actually I prefer nails to screws,"_ Ranma nearly jumped at the sudden voice in his head, _"And I only weigh about half a ton really."_

The martial artist smirked as he turned to face Mewtwo, "I'll be sure to have a magnet ready then. Should have an interesting effect."

Mewtwo laughed softly, a rather interesting effect when combined with his telepathy, _"And what are you doing up so early in the morning_…" Ranma saw Mewtwo wince suddenly, _"…Sara?"_ he finished after a moments hesitation.

"I was heading to the Holo room for my morning workout when I found him locked outside his dorm without a keycard."

"_Something I was hoping to fix before he went out wandering around alone," _said Mewtwo holding up his hand. Floating directly in front of it was a new keycard with Ranma's male face imprinted on it.

The martial artist raised an eyebrow, "You use your psychic powers for everything?"

"_Almost everything,"_ admitted Mewtwo, _"My creators didn't exactly design my body with convenience in mind."_

Ranma nodded as he took the keycard out of the air. Mewtwo's hands only had three fingers each, and his feet, which consisted of two protrusions resembling toes, probably weren't the easiest things in the world to walk on.

"_Master Hand has given you leave to visit the town today to replace your clothes." _He continued gesturing to the torn up shirt and pants full of cuts and holes, _"Unless you want to be walking around in your boxers after our fights over."_

"Oh I have a feeling that no matter how this battle goes you're not going to be wearing anything by the end of it." He shot back.

"_Very true human,"_ said Mewtwo chuckling again, _"Sara, since Link probably won't be waking up until noon, I'm giving you leave to show him around town. Make sure to have him back by lunch."_

Mewtwo turned around and floated off in the opposite direction while Sara continued leading him towards the mess hall. While they walked, Ranma took the opportunity to look over his keycard.

The thing looked very hi-tech at a glance. Instead of a plastic card, the thing had a metal frame with a digital readout. A display showed his face and some green letters to the right of the display showed various information about him including his age, height, and weight. After a couple seconds the display shifted to show his female face with the same statistics, albeit for his girl side.

"Neat little thing," he commented offhandedly as Sara opened the final door leading to the breakfast hall. The room had, once again, transformed for the occasion. Instead of the luxurious high class environment he had attended last night, long rectangular tables had been set out cafeteria style. Instead of waiters, there was a large buffet which contained various foods ranging from cereal to rice with a stack of trays at both ends.

The cafeteria itself was quite empty. Besides him and Sara, the only other person there was a familiar tall figure with blue hair and a sword strapped to his waist. Loading up his plate, Ranma walked over and casually took a seat across from him.

"Good morning Ranma," said the swordsman looking up from his meal.

"Good morning uh…" Ranma paused for a second. Even though he had helped Link and Samus drag him to a bed, he had never actually gotten his name at the time.

"Marth," he provided.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. So this was Mewtwo's self proclaimed arch rival huh? "Good morning Marth," he finished.

"I heard that you are to cross blades with Mewtwo today," he said casually.

Ranma twitched, did every single person in this joint know about that fight? "Am I wearing a sign or something?" he asked bitterly.

"No," Marth pointed over towards the door, "that proclamation would be there."

The martial artist turned around to where Marth was pointing to see a bright neon sign with the words **"FINAL LEAUGE MATCHUP: MEWTWO VS. RANMA"** in colorful flashing letters.

"Normally I would have been the one to do battle with him but since his victory in the league is already assured, I agreed to surrender the fight to you."

"Um…thanks…I think."

The blue haired swordsman looked up as Sara sat down next to him, "Good morning…"

"Sara." She interrupted.

Ranma noticed Marth discreetly raise an eyebrow, "Good morning then, Sara."

"So you actually gave up a fight with Mewtwo so the new guy could take him on? Rather thoughtful of you." She said idly, picking at her food.

"My nemesis will be there regardless of whom he fights. I'm not one to let petty rivalries stop a newcomer from getting some much needed experience. I will always have another opportunity."

Ranma twitched. The guy was sounding a little too much like Kuno for his liking. Honed instincts from having to put up with the sword wielding idiot were telling him to punch the guy on principle, "Hey uh…Marth, why are you talking like that?"

"Like what?"

"I dunno, all formal like."

"Formal like?" he asked puzzled, "I'm not quite sure what it is you're attempting to say."

Sara interrupted before Ranma could speak again, "Um…Ranma? Marth comes from a rather ancient time. Japanese language hadn't evolved to the casual level it has today."

"Oh," said Ranma awkwardly. Clearing his throat Ranma addressed Marth in his best Kuno impression, "My apologies, I meant no offense. Your style of speaking merely brought to memory a person who I would have rather forgotten."

Marth smiled, "It is of no consequence. I wish you the greatest of fortune in your battle today." Still smiling, the swordsman picked up his tray and walked towards the cafeteria door. As he passed the martial artist, he leaned down to whisper in his ear.

"Be wary of your foes eyes, and don't ever take hold of his tail." Placing his tray in the washing area, Marth exited the room.

Sara had a sweatdrop on her head, "Where did you learn to talk like that?"

Ranma shrugged, "Meh, one of my old rivals back where I came from fancied himself a warring states era samurai and used that language to sound high and mighty all the time. Some of his language must have rubbed off on me since I had to kick his face in every day."

"Was he any good?"

"Nah, he just had inhuman levels of endurance from getting the crap beaten out of him all the time. So where are you from Sara?" He wasn't really interested but it seemed to be the best way to get the topic of conversation away from his home world.

"Galactic Federation colony world K-2L, one of the outer systems." She responded.

Ranma scratched his head. That sounded like a planet out of some sci-fi movie, "What did you use to do before you came here?"

"Bounty hunting. I left my home-world around the age of ten after a space pirate attack destroyed the orphanage where I was staying at. I joined the Galactic Federation and after eight years I started bounty hunting."

"Sounds dangerous," said Ranma idly while polishing off the last of his food.

"I'm a dangerous girl," said Sara teasingly, but Ranma could feel the steel behind them.

"I'll be careful then," said Ranma nonchalant. Its not as if he didn't believe her but it was kind of hard to find her intimidating after putting up with true insanity such as Kodachi (and occasionally Akane) who kept trouble as a pet and fed it on a daily basis.

Unfortunately for Ranma, Sara took his nonchalant-ness as sarcasm, "What you don't believe me?" Her voice was still teasing but the Smash Brother could feel the implied challenge behind them.

"No I believe you," said Ranma honestly.

Sara still looked skeptical but decided to let it slide, much to Ranma's relief. They finished their meals quietly (Ranma being able to finish his seconds before Sara could start her firsts) and made their way to the elevator, the bounty hunter in the lead.

A short ride later and the two fighters stepped out onto a brightly colored plaza, "Delflino Plaza," said Sara simply.

The best term Ranma could think of to describe it was colorful. Were he more versed in the language arts, he probably would have thought that word was understatement.

From the minute he walked out of the lobby, bright colors assaulted his vision. Instead of the usual bleak, grey, and darker colors he was used to seeing on houses, there were a myriad of colors ranging from bright reds and blues to pinks and even some blindingly bright yellows.

The buildings also came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Between two western style houses sat a mushroom shaped house painted red with white spots. Next to a Japanese style house stood an incredibly tall rainbow colored tower just shy of being a sky scraper.

Despite how tall some of the buildings were though, none of them even came close to reaching the size of the Smash Brother building, which seemed to go on forever. It was impossible to tell just how tall it actually was since the top went beyond the cloud cover.

Among the streets, a few people were milling about from one shop to the next. Toadstools and koopas seemed to make up a majority of the crowd but here and there Ranma saw some human faces as well.

"Here we are," she said. Ranma returned his attention to his immediate surroundings to see that while he had been observing his surroundings he had unconsciously followed Sara to a pitch black building with a sign that said, "All Occasions." The window displays in front depicted a couple human mannequins, a couple of koopa figures, and a child form half the size of the adult.

The clothes on the mannequins were the things that really interested Ranma though. The two humans were dressed in bodysuits similar to what Sara was wearing. The koopas were wearing black spiked shells and sunglasses, and the child figure was dressed in clothes similar to Link's garb.

"See something you like?" asked Sara coming to stand beside him, "I think these suits look good don't you?"

"Maybe on you," said Ranma quickly not trusting himself to look at her. Personally, he would rather have just kept his regular clothes but since his other two dozen duplicate outfits were still at the Tendo Dojo…

In a completely unrelated story, it happened at that moment that a lakitu was hovering over their exact location at the moment with a cloud that had absorbed too much water.

Sara sweatdropped as Ranma was suddenly soaked by a small downpour in a radius small enough that only he…or rather she…got wet. To his, or her, credit, Ranma didn't even flinch as the change took place.

"So um…do we need to shop for your girl side as well?"

"No way in hell," she said quickly, startling her, "Girls can wear guy clothes just fine. It don't work the other way around."

Sara looked confused, so Ranma explained it to her with his, now her, usual tact, "Wearing panties as a guy hurts like hell, especially when my girl side's about a size smaller than my male size."

That was more information than she needed to know. Blushing softly, Sara opted not to say anything and quickly pulled Ranma into the store.

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"So what happens when you change in the middle of a fight?" asked Sara curiously as she led him through the racks of clothing.

"I always wore sweatpants and tucked my shirt in so it didn't really bother me," she explained, "Still a pain in the ass having so much "up there" when I'm trying to fight. Wearing a bra as a guy just ain't practical though."

'Her speech may be blunt but her logic is flawless,' thought Sara amusedly.

"Alright, pick something out then."

Immediately, Ranma grabbed three pairs of pants and red Chinese shirts off the rack next to him, almost identical to the torn up ones he was wearing now. Sara sighed as her choice of dress.

"You know, you could try to mix it up a bit," she suggested, "This is probably one of the biggest clothing stores in the universe."

"Why?" asked Ranma puzzled, "What's wrong with these clothes?"

"Nothings wrong with them. You should just try and put some variety in your wardrobe."

"Why? I'm not trying to look good; I just need something I can fight in."

"Then if you find something that looks good that you can fight in, will you wear it?"

"Um…I guess so… but why is that important anyways?"

"Because it is," she said with an air of finality, "And if you ask me why one more time I'm going to tazer you." She finished by indicating the sidearm somehow attached to her blue bodysuit.

Ranma rolled her eyes, "Please, don't try to threaten me. You're too cute to look intimidating."

The sidearm was out in a flash. Faster than the human eye could track, Ranma's hand shot forward and caught her wrist halfway to her body. Undeterred, Sara quickly dropped the weapon to her left hand and came at her again.

Her left hand was quickly caught like her right hand, the size of the girl belying the strength of her grip.

Sara was prepared though. Using her upper body strength, Sara twisted them both around, the momentum freeing her from the other girl's grasp. Pressing a hidden switch, the gun quickly shifted its form into a longer metal cylinder.

Fortunately for Ranma, she had been predicting a follow up attack after the spin maneuver and even though she was surprised, she was still in the perfect position to dodge the yellow whip of energy that flew over her head.

Bending backwards until her hands touched the ground, Ranma pushed hard and sailed backwards through the air, landing several feet away from Sara. Said Bounty Hunter still had her energy saber out and was looking at him with an amused smirk.

"Correction," said the redhead cheekily, "Cute and violent."

"I also happen to have better taste in clothes," retorted Sara putting the…thing…back in its holster. She wasn't an expert on the subject but was fairly certain that something that could transform into a sword like that didn't really qualify as a gun, "Now come on, we're going to get you some real clothes."

Ranma sighed but followed anyways, discreetly picking up the discarded Chinese style shirts on the floor.

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One hour later, Sara and Ranma exited the story, the later wearing a brand new red Chinese shirt and black sweatpants. Despite Sara's best efforts, the pigtailed girl had managed to leave the shop with only one bag containing several identical outfits consisting of the ever popular red shirt and black pants combo.

It was then, that Ranma felt it.

A slight twinge on the edge of her consciousness, a small disturbance on the brink of her senses. Normally she wouldn't have felt it, but since she had yet to do a morning workout, her body was still wound up with energy waiting to be released.

Cautiously, Ranma reached out with her ki and brushed against the energy she was sensing. Immediately, the foreign energy flared, strengthening two fold against her probe.

A challenge.

Sara paused as Ranma suddenly stopped walking. Her eyes were closed as if in meditation and while she wasn't a very accomplished aura reader, she could tell the red head was searching for something.

"Um…Ran-," She began

"Sara," Ranma's eyes snapped open almost startling the blonde. Before she had a chance to reprimand, the bounty hunter found herself holding the bag of clothes, "Hold on to that for a second."

And with that, she was gone.

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There comes a time in a martial artists training when they start to develop the legendary sixth sense, or danger sense as its known in most circles.

However, this is inaccurate. The sixth sense isn't so much a danger sense as an aura sense. Each and every person in the world gives off an aura of some kind and martial artists who train tirelessly for years on end can begin to sense these auras. Therefore, when someone senses an aura moving at them very fast, its practically second nature to them to move out the way. Thus it was titled the legendary danger sense.

Unfortunately, this is as far as any non-martial artist can understand it.

His mystery opponents aura called to him, challenged him, and Ranma Saotome never backed down from a challenge.

All of his senses were focused on the aura as he ran across the rooftops of Delfino Plaza. Gradually the buildings thinned and disappeared, giving way to trees and forestry. The sounds also began to fade, the hustle and bustle of the town turning into the sounds of wildlife.

Approximately five minutes after he had begun running, he stopped, standing in the middle of a clearing of trees. Looking up, the martial artist saw his opponent.

It was balanced perfectly on one leg at the very top of the tallest tree in the clearing. Around the clearing, Ranma could sense the tightly focused dark blue aura the…creature was emitting.

An occurrence that Ranma was finding less and less odd the more he saw, the dog like creature at the top of the tree was not human. He was covered in blue fur with black spots, two small ears adorned the top of his head, and a small tail swayed gently behind him.

No matter how he looked though, he was still a fighter. Without a second thought, Ranma jumped up a tree parallel to his and closed his eyes, imitating the blue creatures pose and exercise. Their two auras filled the entire clearing, silently battling one another for dominance.

It was impossible to tell just how long they stood there, their energies silently battling one another, but Ranma was suddenly broken from his concentration by a somewhat loud beeping sound. Quickly he pinpointed the sound to the Brawl Bracer on his right arm.

LUCARIO HAS CHALLENGED YOU TO A 100 LIFE STAMINA MATCH

Below that were the words ACCEPT and DECLINE.

Looking up, Ranma saw that Lucario's eyes were open and his body was relaxed into a battle stance. Smirking, Ranma punched the accept button.

"READY…"

Ranma almost jumped when the voice came out of nowhere, but he quickly recognized it as the announcer's voice that had precluded his matches with Sara and Link. His eyes were locked with Lucario's now, both of their bodies were tensing, preparing for the voice to say the next word.

"…FIGHT!"

Two blurs immediately shot off the branches, meeting halfway in the air, exchanging blows at a rapid pace. Ranma was slightly taller than Lucario but the dog like creature was using his aura to supplement his attacks. Every time he punched or kicked, dark blue energy extended from his hand, leaving a trail of his aura in its wake.

Using the double jump, both fighters kicked off the air to return to their trees before jumping towards each other again. It was an incredibly fast paced battle with virtually no pause in between landing on a tree and jumping back into the fray.

One ill timed move, barely even a second off its mark, gave Ranma all the advantage he needed. Grabbing a hold of the pokemon's outstretched leg, the smash brother positioned Lucario beneath his shoulder and let gravity take over.

SMASH!

The crash from their twenty foot decent from the air left a spider web of cracks in the ground.

Respectfully, Ranma jumped back and waited for his opponent to recover. According to the damage counters, the fall and air battle had taken Lucario down to 40 life while he was at a comfortable 60 life.

Now was not the time to get comfortable though. Lucario had already risen, his battle stance on the ground greatly contrasting his one in the air. Mentally preparing himself, Ranma charged, intent on finishing off the last of his life points.

It was incredibly hard to describe what happened next. Practically half a second before Ranma attacked, the air seemed to bend inward around the pokemon, his form blurring slightly. Right before his fist would have connected, Lucario's form split into two afterimages before disappearing.

The martial artist only had time to blink as the dog person's aura winked out of existence. He blinked again and suddenly he felt his opponent's aura explode behind him. The kick impacted his side, launching him into the air. The follow up kick slammed him into a tree.

Quickly coming to his senses, Ranma was able to dodge the final attack that split the tree in half. Before he could recover from his final attack, Ranma kicked him away, gaining some breathing room.

To anyone else, charging after someone who had just used a move that ate away half your life probably would have been foolish. To a martial artist like Saotome however, the only way to counter a move like that was to experience it first hand, and he was going to do just that.

Like before, the air seemed to bend before Lucario's aura winked out of existence before reappearing behind him and landing a kick on him. This time though, he was able to stop the follow up, giving as much damage as he had taken. The result left them both at twenty life.

In a final show of determination, Ranma once again charged Lucario, for all intents and purposes ready to finish the fight one way or another. Compressing the air around him, the pokemon readied his extreme-speed attack once again right before the martial artist made contact.

Too late, he realized, was that his all out attack was really a feint. Instead of appearing behind the martial artist, he appeared one foot to the left of him.

The last thing he saw before he was clotheslined into oblivion was Ranma's smirk of triumph.

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Omake -Samboke-

Glancing over to Link's bunk, Ranma saw the Hero of Time still soundly asleep. He briefly entertained the notion of waking him up for a spar, but he started to hear Link mumble something in his sleep.

"No….come back…here….don't wanna to be a Deku scrub…mumble mumble"

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Thanks to my pre-readers, Samboke and JSB. To all those that e-mailed me, I apologize. When I went to send the chapter out to everyone who requested to pre-read, the entirety of fanfiction dot net was down and I couldn't get the e-mail addresses.

Once again, I'll try my best to respond to all the reviews that I get.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Nintendo. Yeah, that about sums it up nicely.

* * *

"So tell me," began Sara, arms crossed under her breasts. The red-haired Ranma had just reappeared with an unconscious Lucario slung over her shoulder. "Do you normally run off at random to fight people to intense sparring matches or are you just excited?"

Ranma seriously thought about the question for a bit. "Meh. This is pretty much the norm for everywhere I go."

"You know, I don't think sarcasm would get through to you if I used a hammer," said Sara, shaking her head.

Ranma blinked. "Why would you need to use a hammer?"

"Never mind. We better get going if you're going to be in time for your fight with Mewtwo." Ranma nodded and began trailing behind the bounty hunter.

Silently, Ranma marveled at the clothes she now wore. Despite being in battle less than five minutes ago, there wasn't a smudge or tear on them.

Clothes in the Smash universe were made with enhanced carbon fibers, made to hold up when exposed to fire, water, ice, PK power, explosives, electricity, ki, chi, chakra, life energy, youkai, spiritual energy, light energy, dark energy, bad karma, blunt trauma, blunt trauma, foot stains, rug burns, negligent washing cycles, and most importantly, Smash battles.

At the same time though, the clothes didn't actually 'protect' the wearer from anything.

"So how long is this guy gonna stay asleep?" asked Ranma, shifting her burden to a more comfortable position.

"Around five to ten minutes," responded Sara. "Whenever someone defeats you in free combat outside of an official Smash arena, the computer linked to your bracers forces you into unconsciousness so you don't end up hurting yourself. You were only fighting at a hundred life though, so he should be waking up-"

"_You can put me down now, human."_

For the second time that day, Ranma had to resist the urge to jump at the voice in her head.

"Damn. How many people know telepathy around here?"

The pigtailed girl quickly set the dog-like being down. Lucario stretched a couple of times before turning to face Ranma.

"_It would seem as though Master Hand has chosen well yet again. If you fight like that, you may just be able to take Mewtwo down one life before he defeats you."_

"Yeah yeah, keep talking, or telepathy...ing, or whatever you call it. I'll be fighting him soon enough." Stopping at a random mushroom shaped kiosk, Ranma procured a glass of hot water and promptly dumped it over her head, oblivious to Lucario's stare. Amazingly, the water seemed to flow around the clothes, not being absorbed at all.

"_A water based evolution," _spoke Lucario privately to Sara. _"Fascinating. You certainly keep some interesting companions Samus."_

"Sara," she corrected silently. "Reconnaissance on the new fighter."

"_Again? Must you do this with every fighter that comes through here?"_

"It's what I do," she said simply. "Besides, it's completely worth the look on people's faces when my suit comes off mid-match."

"_I tended to be more surprised by the giant laser beam of death headed towards me, but perhaps that's just my opinion."_

_

* * *

_

One short after-battle snack later, and everyone had gathered in the main viewing room, ready to watch the match between the Smash veteran and the newcomer. Before, Ranma had only seen about ten different people casually watching the match between him and Samus. Now, there were over fifty people in the room, including the cooks and the item factory workers. Above the movie sized viewing screen was a banner stating "FINAL LEAUGE MATCHUP: MEWTWO VS RANMA"

"Looks like I've drawn a crowd," said Ranma casually.

"This is a pretty exclusive club," said Samus from his left. "Any newcomer is going to generate a lot of interest. People have to start developing strategies to fight against you after all. Besides, everyone would like to see Mewtwo take a fall, even if it is unlikely," she added with a smirk.

Ranma decided not to respond. The only way these people would be convinced of his ability was if he won. Leaving Sara on the side lines, Ranma climbed the stage from the left while Mewtwo hovered in on the right, entering into a staredown as cheers sounded from the audience. An animation of their silhouettes appeared on the screen street fighter style, complete with a lightning sound effect.

Slowly, the scanner pods rose up from trapdoors in the stage, a small amount of fog rising with them. With a hiss, they opened, awaiting the two fighters.

"Kind of dramatic isn't it?" asked Ranma conversationally as he approached Mewtwo.

"_Master Hand is a professional entertainer. Just remember to smile, you're on camera after all." _Ranma could hear the slightly mocking tone in his head.

"Oh like you ever smile," Ranma shot back.

"_Touche human. Touche."_

Stepping into the scanner, Ranma closed his eyes.

TRANSFER RANMA. TRANSFER MEWTWO.

The door slid shut.

SCANNER RANMA. SCANNER MEWTWO.

The light displays raced across the walls of the machine.

VIRTUALIZATION.

* * *

From the time when a Smash fighter was virtualized to the time where the fight actually began, there was a mere three seconds in which the fighters had time to assess their position, the positions of their enemies, and the type of environment they were fighting in.

Plenty of time for someone like Ranma.

The setting reminded him of the Hyrule temple stage he had fought Link on yesterday. The air seemed cleaner, the forests in the background less tame and more invasive, and the water surrounding them a lighter shade of blue. The arena seemed to be centered around a small dome shaped building with a large pirate hook at the top, while a few rafts floated around them. He himself seemed to be standing on a giant...rock turtle with a palm tree sticking out of it. Huh. Well that was interesting.

READY...

Unfortunately, the casual defiance of the laws of nature would have to wait for a bit. He had a fight to win. Scanning over the battleground one last time, Ranma spotted his opponent materializing on the platform in front of the building. Already, his mind was planning the shortest route to him.

...FIGHT!

Like a cheetah after its prey, Ranma kicked off the palm tree behind him, shooting himself forward. Mewtwo almost seemed surprised with his reckless charge, but swiftly glided out of the way of his projected landing point. What he didn't count on, was for Ranma to kick off of the building and then the floating raft in quick succession, changing his trajectory from a frontal attack to a side one. It landed solidly in Mewtwo's side, sending him staggering back a few steps.

The martial artist didn't let up, following up with a series of punches and kicks. These were a bit less effective as the element of surprise was gone now, but Mewtwo was well up to forty damage before he established his guard properly.

He had expected it after seeing Mewtwo's feats of psychic abilities earlier that day, but it was till disorienting to have his blows deflected by seemingly invisible walls of energy. Mewtwo's hands were glowing purple now as he slowly started pushing Ranma off the offensive.

The pokemon's eyes suddenly flashed red as one of Ranma's punches went a little too far left. Mewtwo spun, letting the fist skim by his head, and letting his tail smack into Ranma's face, causing him to flinch unexpectedly. Thrusting his hand into Ranma's solar plexus, he unleashed a burst of psychic power, sending shocks all throughout his body. Before he could recover from the electric like pain, Mewtwo had grabbed onto his shirt and threw him into the air, sending several small shadow balls after him.

Ranma wasn't an Anything Goes practitioner for nothing though. He recovered almost instantly, twisting wildly to dodge the the energy blasts before landing safely on the ground, several feet away. He ran forward again, albeit more cautiously this time, while his thoughts went light speed.

_'He's slower than me, that much is certain, but for some reason, I can't get an attack in.'_ Experimentally, he threw a feint, followed up by a lightning quick jab, only for Mewtwo to completely ignore the feint in favor of blocking the punch. _'He's not falling for any feints or distractions. He's only blocking what might actually hit him. It's almost like he's psychic or some-" _His thought process ground to a halt as he processed that last thought once again. _'Oh. Right. Well I feel stupid.'_

And he paid for his stupidity with a psychic blast to the chest, as Mewtwo ducked under a roundhouse. The attack lifted him off his feet a bit, sending him to land on the turtle where he had started the match. _'I'm telegraphing my thoughts,' _thought Ranma sourly. _'He's probably picking up on them like I do with someone telegraphing their moves.'_

With that revelation, Ranma began to clear his mind, letting his thoughts leave him and allowing his battle instinct to take over and purely dictate his actions. When he clashed with Mewtwo again, it was much closer than before. He still couldn't seem to land a hit, but neither could Mewtwo. It seemed to be a stalemate, until Mewtwo suddenly vanished from sight in a flash of light.

Ranma blinked, his mind trying to catch up with what he just saw.

_'Above!' _His instincts were a second too late though, as Mewtwo's tail impacted with his head, dropping him to one knee. The follow up psychic blast hit him square in the face, sending him flying off the stage. Recovering as best he could, Ranma used the double-jump to stabilize himself on one of the floating rafts

_'Okay, so he can teleport,' _thought Ranma, taking a breath as he recovered from the blow to his face. Mewtwo hadn't followed up the attack, merely waiting on the main platform, his arms crossed, tail swaying slightly behind him, challenging the martial artist to come to him.

"Oh don't worry, I'll knock you off stage soon enough," he promised while forming a strategy in his mind. It was shaky, but if Mewtwo really was seeing his thoughts, it just might work.

Jumping onto the platform, Ranma clenched his left hand into a fist, envisioning its attack path, it's impact on Mewtwo's head, and just how far the pokemon would fly once the fist connected. The fist flew true on its trajectory, Mewtwo already raising his hand to block, when all of a sudden Ranma's right fist blindsided him, causing him to fly backwards.

Ranma didn't let up though and followed him into the air, delivering a midair roundhouse to the pokemon before it could recover. Charging up his confidence into his right hand, Ranma pounded the air with his double jump, lining up the perfect overhand throw.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!" BOOM!

The blast was weaker than normal, but it hit, sending Mewtwo spiraling backwards towards the water. But before he actually touched, his body seemed to lift itself into the air in a graceful back-flip. Probably his own version of the double jump. Ranma chose not to pursue, instead taking on Mewtwo's previous pose, his arms crossed in front of him, a challenge in his eyes.

"_Very good. You've figured out how to think of two different things at once in order to confuse my readings."_

Ranma's eyes narrowed, his senses wary. It was the first time Mewtwo had talked during the match.

"_But you're mental prowess are but an infant to mine." _His telepathic voice oozed arrogance. _"I hope you can step up your game again human."_

There was a small flash and Mewtwo was suddenly standing back on the stage, a comfortable distance from Ranma. Holding out his three fingered appendage, Mewtwo made a 'come on' gesture. The martial artist took the invitation, forcing his mind to wander through advanced katas while he fought on his instinct.

It was met with a solid defensive wall. No matter what he thought about, Mewtwo seemed to always be able to center on his instinct, blocking his blows flawlessly and scoring several electrifying counterattacks. His damage percentage was climbing steadily towards the one-hundred level while Mewtwo's was staying around seventy.

"_You seem to be struggling again human." _His telepathic voice was conversation like, despite fighting a battle at inhuman levels of speed. _"Allow me to give you a piece of advice." _Mewtwo's hand blurred, catching one of Ranma's fists with psychic power. _"When you fight on instinct, you're still projecting some of your thoughts. Not of yourself, but of what your opponent might do. Such as which way they might counterattack, where they'll move. Your brain sends the data to your body, which reacts accordingly." _Bringing his other hand forward, Mewtwo lifted Ranma off the ground with his power before slamming him back downwards. He bounced slightly, only to meet Mewtwo's tail which pushed him back down.

Rolling away from the beating, Ranma jumped to his feet, immediately getting back into a battle stance.

"_True mastery of your mind is nearly impossible,"_ continued the pokemon. _"You're talented, but I can pick up on even the smallest things you let slip."_

Ranma took a couple deep breaths to recover his wind while he processed what Mewtwo was saying. How was it even possible to fight without thinking? Logically, your brain had to send signals to your body in order for your body to move. Was Mewtwo saying that he could actually pick up on those signals his brain sent? It was frustrating just to think about.

"_Don't let your mind wander!" _shouted Mewtwo's psychic voice suddenly. Ranma snapped back to attention at the mental command. _"You might not be able to win this round, but use it as a learning experience."_

Ranma huffed. "Geeze, what are you my sensei? I'm not out of this fight just yet! KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

Mewtwo's eyes seemed to widen a second before the attack came as he processed exactly what Ranma was about to do. He put up an admirable defense, but the sheer speed made sure that at least half of the punches went through his guard, scoring light hits on his abdomen and chest areas. Before the pokemon could fully process the move, Ranma ended it with a haymaker that sent Mewtwo flying off into the horizon.

Charging up another energy blast, Ranma pushed it beyond his usual limits. The thought of victory giving birth to a huge swell of confidence. "And don't....Come...BACK! MOKO TAKABISHA!" The blast was nearly double the size of his normal one. The pokemon tried teleporting in midair, but the distance wasn't far enough, and the blast clipped him, sending him into the stratosphere with a -ding-.

Ranma fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Needless to say, he wasn't going to be trying that again any time soon.

"_I suppose that is an alternative solution. Using attacks beyond my capability to dodge even when I know what is coming."_

The martial artist turned his eyes skyward to see Mewtwo descending from the angel platform, ready to fight with his second life._ "However, I can't imagine that you have much left in you after an attack like that."_

"Totally... worth it," he panted out, climbing to his feet. "Told you... I'd... knock you out of here at least once."

There was amusement laced in Mewtwo's telepathic voice now. _"Indeed you did. Now let's see if you can do it again."_

_

* * *

_

Link winced as Ranma was sent off-screen by a particularly vicious psychic blast, barely even able to mount a defense against Mewtwo's renewed onslaught.

"My rival has stopped holding back," muttered a voice to Link's left. "This Ranma is indeed a worthy opponent."

The Hylian hero turned to see Marth sitting next to him, watching the screen thoughtfully. "You think so?" he asked seriously.

Marth nodded. "Without a doubt. Already Saotome has begun to utilize mental defenses and tactics that took me at least a week to master and implement. And he had not the benefit of foreknowledge like myself."

"Do you think he has a chance?" asked Link skeptically.

The swordsman shook his head. "Not after his last assault. My foe would not be taken by surprise in such a way a second time."

"He could have another trick up his sleeve," said Zelda encouragingly.

"Even so, his grasp on his mental defenses are slipping." Marth gestured to the second screen where Ranma was in the fifty percentage while Mewtwo had barely moved from fifteen. "My foe is predicting him with more accuracy now."

As if to prove his statement, Mewtwo countered one of Ranma's kicks with a tail sweep, even before the kick left the ground. Taking advantage of his foes imbalance, Mewtwo let loose a psychic blast at a forty-five degree angle, sending Ranma skidding along the ground.

"Damn. Still getting up even after that," said someone in front of them. "Tough son of a bitch. When I got hit with that blast I was feeling it for a week." The speaker was the starship pilot Wolf. Aptly named since he was essentially a werewolf. "I think that bastard Mewtwo is enjoying this."

It did seem as though Mewtwo was taking his time in finishing off the last of Ranma's lives. His damage counter still hadn't gone up much, just barely breaking the twenty percent mark while Ranma was nearing eighty.

"It is the last league match of the season, and the first showing of the newcomer," responded Zelda, frowning at Wolf's language. "Maybe he's just giving him a chance to show off his abilities and give the crowd a show."

"Yeah well Ranma ain't got a chance in hell unless he can pull a hurricane out of his ass or something."

* * *

The Hiryu Shoten Ha was dismissed as soon as it came to mind. He wasn't too sure how psychic energy worked and even less sure how it interacted with ki. The umisenken briefly came to mind, but he wasn't quite ready to reveal that trick just yet. As much as he wanted to win, beating Mewtwo here would accomplish little in the way of tournament standings and also wouldn't get him closer to the wish Master Hand had promised.

As much as he hated to admit it, it seemed like the best option would be to take the defeat in stride and prepare for the rematch. It would be something to look forward to at least. He'd hadn't had this much of a challenge since Cologne had decided to take him seriously.

Mewtwo was coming at him again, probably readying a complicated attack pattern based on his own martial arts style. Briefly, he contemplated just stepping off the edge and saving himself the pain, but quickly discarded the thought. Grinning like a maniac, Ranma met Mewtwo's charge head on, putting everything he had left into his assault.

"KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!"

The punches batted uselessly against Mewtwo's shield, but Ranma didn't care. He just continued his stream of punches, waiting for either the pokemon's guard or his energy to fail first. After what seemed like ten seconds of high speed punches and blocks, Ranma finally started to slow down. One punch moved slow enough for Mewtwo to catch in his psychic grip, and then he was on his knees, his arm twisted behind his back. The psychic pressure Mewtwo was exerting was far stronger than anything Ryoga could manage.

Unable to struggle free Ranma simply sent a smirk in Mewtwo's direction. "I'm looking forward to the rematch."

Mewtwo placed his other hand on Ranma's shoulder, glowing purple with psychic energy.

"_So am I."_ Was the last thing he heard before a huge shock of psychic energy traveled through his system, causing him to black out as he slowly tumbled off the edge of the stage.

* * *

There was a brief feeling of deja-vu as Ranma awoke inside the scanner with voices outside it.

"Damn, Mewtwo really took him to town."

"You think he's still conscious after that last shock?"

Ranma shook his head, trying to clear out the cobwebs. There was sweat all over his body (although it wasn't soaking his clothes since they were sweat resistant) and his hair felt like it'd just gone through a summer shower. His body felt as if it had just undergone breaking point training and failed miserably.

"_Don't try to move too fast," _cautioned Mewtwo's telepathic voice from inside his head. _"Psychic power tends to leave a lingering effect for about an hour afterward."_

Ranma grimaced but didn't protest as the scanner opened and his body was caught by Link and Marth, each guy supporting an arm. Across from him, Mewtwo emerged unassisted from the scanner, albeit hovering a little slower than usual. Ranma directed his supporters towards the pokemon who was watching him with what could have been described as a curious look.

Taking a breath, Ranma shrugged off of his assistants and slowly offered a hand to Mewtwo. The pokemon looked at it for a second before producing his own hand, without the aid of his psychic powers. A cheer rose up from the crowd as the two Smash fighters shook hands while confetti streamed from the ceiling and the large monitor boldly proclaimed Mewtwo the winner of the league season.

"_Go get some rest," _advised the psychic pokemon as he released his hand. With a gentle psychic push, he sent him back into the arms of his supporters. _"Don't disappoint me when you challenge me again."_ And with that ultimatum, Mewtwo turned to Master Hand who was overseeing the awards ceremony.

"An excellent job," complimented Marth as he led Ranma away from the crowd. "There is change coming in the wind here. I can feel it."

Ranma nodded, focusing more on his footsteps than the conversation. "Does this ever get any easier or am I going to have to be carried back to my room every time?" he asked after a bit.

"Fighting Mewtwo never gets any easier," scoffed Link. "But your body will adjust to the scanner and the Smash battles over time."

"Oh... good. Wouldn't want to start paying escort fees."

Math chuckled as he flashed his card at one of the doors. "You definitely shall not be the last one carried to thy room after a bout with the psychic master, and you are definitely not the first."

"Makes me feel a little better I suppose," grumbled Ranma. A minute later they had reached his and Link's dorm.

"Make sure-" Marth began.

"-that he has food immediately when he wakes up. I know Marth, we've all been there." The swordsman simply inclined his head and walked away.

"So, what do you think of Mewtwo now?" asked Link jokingly as Ranma lay face down on his bed.

"Shtill ghunna beath him," he mumbled into his pillow.

Link rolled his eyes. "Man, where do you get all that confidence from? I have a triforce piece. What's your excuse?"

"Genetics," he mumbled again.

* * *

Despite being beaten a third of the way to death yesterday (he refused to say half. He wasn't a wuss after all), Ranma was up and about early the next morning, running through training exercises, now complimented with mental exercises as well. Clearing the mind and moving the body without thinking was proving to be a near impossible task but it wasn't in his nature to give up. He had accomplished it briefly in his fight. He knew it was possible. All he had to do now was figure out how it worked.

"Are you practicing your battle meditation?"

Ranma turned towards the sound of the voice to see Marth walking towards him, a wooden practice sword in hand.

"Battle meditation?" he questioned.

"To fight without thought and with peace of mind, where your body and your thoughts become one with each other." The blue-haired man smiled. "Sounds almost poetic doesn't it?"

"Uh... sure. I guess it could have a worse name."

Marth nodded. "So, how is your training coming along?"

Ranma grimaced. "Slowly. The entire concept is so damn obscure I barely know where to start."

"Indeed. It has been much the same for me. Most others have given up the pursuit as well, passing over the crown to Mewtwo. However, I have confidence that I shall triumph someday."

"Heh. You can take him once I'm finished," he challenged. "There's not gonna be a whole lot left after I'm done with him."

Marth raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do I sense a challenge in your words?"

"A challenge implies that there's a competition," said Ranma, mock-arrogantly. "I don't know if you're up to it or not."

Marth mock-saluted his new rival. "A challenge it is then. May the best man win."

* * *

"Less than three days and he's already pulled Marth out of his funk and knocked out one of Mewtwo's lives. I think he's going to fit in quite well here don't you think Samus?"

"He'll be fine," the blue-suited female responded, her legs relaxing on Master Hand's desk. "He's certainly got the drive to improve if nothing else. And an insatiable thirst for combat too."

"You speak as if that's a bad thing," chided Master Hand, amusement clear in his voice.

"Well, it's not bad, but it doesn't seem like he has any other drives," she mumbled. "He's got the exact same obsession Marth had, and is getting again apparently," she said as she watched Marth and Ranma practice katas in the field around Smash Headquarters.

"The Zero suit wasn't enticing enough?"

Samus glared at him.

"Guess not. Then again, with his kind of situation back home, female flesh is probably the last thing he thinks about."

Samus' curiosity was peaked, and Master Hand knew it too. "So what, he's batting for the other team then?"

"Tell you what, I'll show you the file if you do a little favor for me." Samus could almost see the grin on the faceless arena master.

"I'll bite. What do you want from me?" she asked sourly.

"There's a new recruit I want you to pick up." He brought out a second folder. "Feel free to take any one companion along with you except for Mewtwo."

Samus glanced at the new folder curiously. "What on earth is that?" she asked upon seeing the picture.

"A hedgehog. Goes by the name Sonic. Make sure to take someone fast."

* * *

A/N: I'd like to take a minute here to BLOW YOUR MIND with my insanely quick update. Don't ask me why, just roll with it. Reviews are appreciated, criticism even more so. Flames will probably be taken to a forum and dissected, but they're welcome all the same.

As a bonus, if you have a COMPLETE Rosario + Vampire or Haruhi Suzumiya story you want put under the critic microscope, drop by my forums under the mentioned sections and see if you qualify. They'll be under ClanCrusher. Till next time everyone.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: WARNING! PLEASE READ! After this chapter, this story will officially not be a re-write anymore. The old story is also going to be taken down in a weeks time, so if you want to copy any of the old chapters for any reason, this is your last chance. Also, this story will be dropping the 're-write' portion from its title as well. Be warned, and don't get confused. And, of course, enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

"So tell me Marth," breathed Ranma as he parried another strike from the practice blade. "When are you going to stop holding back?"

Marth blocked Ranma's return strike with the pommel of his blade before returning with a quick slash that the martial artist was forced to block with his bracers. "When thou fights me with thy full strength as well," he replied easily.

Ranma smirked and picked his speed up a notch in response to the challenge, only for Marth to do the same almost immediately. The battle had been going like this for nearly five minutes now, having started slow and picking up speed at a uniform pace every one minute interval. To the normal human eye, Ranma's fists and Marth's sword were little more than blurs at this point.

It had been three days since his fight with Mewtwo, and training with Marth was quickly becoming a steady part of his morning routine. Marth, quite frankly, was everything Kuno wished he could be and more. An incredible swordsman, a noble air around him that commanded respect like the ancient day samurai, and a generally friendly and likeable attitude.

Progress on battle meditation was almost nil though. Clearing the mind had become easier with practice and Ranma had made it a point to attempt it at least once every morning, midday, and afternoon. Even so, the only true way to practice would be fighting Mewtwo, something both were too prideful to even consider.

Marth was more than happy to share his experiences though, and although most of it was information that Ranma had inferred from his own fight, there were some valuable tidbits in there as well. For instance, Marth had once fought a battle with Mewtwo while constantly switching his sword-hand from right to left. For a while the information had seemed to conflict in the pokemon's mind, and trying to register the same forms at slightly different angles and positions gave him a few opportunities. However, Mewtwo had adapted, eventually seeing through the style and countering it.

Switching to completely different styles rapidly seemed to be less effective overall than making subtle changes to a style he'd already adapted to. Thinking about several things at once was also effective, but incredibly hard to maintain while fighting. After three days, trying to think up possible counters was rather tiring. And Marth had been trying to achieve a decisive victory over Mewtwo for almost a year now.

Some people had called him obsessed. Ranma, on the other hand, thought his stance perfectly reasonable after seeing various examples of obsession from his daily sparring partners. Speaking of sparring...

CLANG!

Ranma winced at the sound of Marth's wooden sword rebounding off his bracer. The strike had easily twice the force of Kuno's blows, and Marth was only using a one-handed weapon. The impact hadn't even seemed to faze the swordsman as he immediately retracted and struck from a different angle, keeping up the same level of power as before.

"You fight as though I'd had live steel," said Marth conversationally.

Ranma ducked under another swing and retaliated with a leg sweep that Marth hopped over. "No point in pretending it ain't real. You use a real sword in the real fight."

"A fair assessment," he conceded as chopped at the martial artist. "But what wouldst thou do if it wasn't a live blade?"

The martial artist smirked evilly. "This."

Before Marth could register his statement, Ranma deflected one of his strikes at an angle, and grabbed the wooden sword under his arm on the slight rebound. Aiming a kick at the opponent's torso, Ranma was a bit surprised when Marth let go of the sword, completely dodging the kick.

Ranma paused as he eyed his opponent standing across from him, looking rather unconcerned about being disarmed. "At this point I'd probably break it or throw it away somewhere," he provided before tossing it back to him.

"A reasonable plan," he conceded, catching the sword by the hilt. "Very well then, my sword is broken." Setting the blade off to the side, he removed his cape and shook out his hands a little. "Let's see what happens then." To Ranma's surprise, he then assumed a basic fighting stance.

"A hand to hand fight?" Asked the martial artist questioningly.

"I shall not always be with my blade," he responded reasonably, unknowingly gaining another point towards the martial artist's favor.

Ranma smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Alright then. Your funeral."

It was apparent after the first couple of exchanges that Marth's hand to hand skills were nowhere near his sword skills. Not bad by any means, but Ranma could immediately tell that Marth had to take a second to think about his actions before he did them. Instinctively, Ranma began to fall into teacher mode, moving around the strikes and poking at holes in his defense rather than retaliating with full strikes.

Marth was a quick learner though, and quickly began tightening his stances to leave less openings. Ten minutes in, he called it quits.

"It is apparent that the way of the fist is just as deep as the way of the sword. I have much to learn it would seem." Bowing slightly, he went to retrieve his cape and practice sword.

"You've got the basics down pretty well," complimented Ranma as he fell into step beside him.

"But naught but the basics," he admitted. "Enough to perhaps help me retrieve my blade and continue the fight."

"I may not be very good at battle meditation just yet, but that's a problem I can fix pretty easily," said Ranma confidently.

Marth raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Art thou making me an offer perhaps?"

The martial artist rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well...yeah. I guess so."

The swordsman smiled. "Then I shall accept your generous gift. However, I believe some form of repayment is in order."

"Um...well, I don't really think you have to-"

"Nonsense my fellow Smash Brother. Now," he swiped his card at one of the doors, his smile turning mischievous. "How well can you use a blade?"

"Well enough," came the slow response. "I never really liked using weapons though. Didn't want to rely on them if I ever got disarmed."

Marth nodded as he led them towards the mess hall. "A fair but narrow minded conception. One not need to fear disarmament if thou is good enough to begin with."

"I don't think anyone could ever get to the point where they couldn't be disarmed," said Ranma confidently.

Marth's continued smiling. "Oh? Do I sense a challenge in thy words?" The two fighters entered the mess hall and moved towards the breakfast buffet, filling their trays. The hour was early so the breakfast room was pretty much empty, aside from the shelled turtles and mushroom heads cleaning tables.

"What kind of challenge are we talking about?" asked Ranma suspiciously, taking a seat at one of the empty tables.

"A friendly bout," he assured the martial artist. "You try to disarm me with naught but your fists, and I shall stop you. If I succeed, then you shall become my student like I shall become yours. If you succeed, then I will concede my position."

"Alright then, it's a deal." He put his hand forward and shook with the swordsman. "I don't intend to lose though."

"We shall see when the time comes."

The conversation descended into a comfortable silence as the two Smash fighters focused on eating their meals.

"Six o clock in the morning. And here I thought I was the only one stupid enough to be up this early." Ranma looked up from his meal to see Sara take a seat beside him. "What's with the tense atmosphere? Did someone just issue a challenge?"

"A friendly match, nothing more," assured Marth with a smile.

"Friendly huh? I'll believe that when I see it. You guys can't even go one morning training session without beating each other half to death." She motioned towards the bruises on Ranma's arm and Marth's hands.

"This is but a small amount of the pain I'm willing to endure to ensure the defeat my rival."

"I barely feel it anymore," added Ranma.

Sara stared at them listlessly. "I think you two have boarded the same train on the one track mind," she deadpaned.

"It's nice to have a goal," said Ranma, completely unoffended.

"It's also nice to act normally once in a while."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Says the space bounty hunter with the freaky gun-whip," he retorted teasingly. He didn't bother dodging the light smack to the back of his head.

"So why art thou awake so early this morning?" Asked Marth, breaking into the conversation.

In response, the bounty hunter slapped a folder onto the table. "Recruitment."

Marth reached for the folder and began curiously looking it over. "Another combatant? Well, I suppose it is the off season." The swordsman was silent for a second as he looked over the documents. "A hedgehog?" he asked finally. "An interesting opponent."

Sara sighed. "Tell me about it. Apparently this guy is supposed to be the 'fastest thing alive' according to Master Hand."

That perked Ranma's attention. "A hedgehog is supposed to be the fastest thing alive? Really? Did he get exposed to gamma radiation or something?"

"Hard to say," said Sara, stretching her arms out. "Apparently he's in an alternate dimension from his own already due to someone in his old universe having dimensional traversing powers. Either way, Master Hand wants to extend an invitation and send one of our fighters to give a demonstration."

"So you're looking for a companion," assessed Marth accurately. "Have you decided on who you wish to take?"

"Well, Fox, Falco, and Wolf are all back to their own world for the summer, Mario, Peach, Luigi, and Bowser are all beginning their summer of sports, Lucario and Mewtwo are away on their summer training trip, Meta-knight, Kirby, and King De-de-de went back to...wherever they go during the summer, and Link and Zelda are both off training in the Smash forest. So you two were the last on my list."

"Gee thanks," said Ranma sarcastically. "Think I'll leave this one to you Marth."

"I just remembered about a training journey I must embark upon on the morrow. I wish you luck upon your search."

"Can I tag along?" asked Ranma, getting up along with Marth.

Sara reached out and grabbed both their arms. "I'm just kidding. Actually, you guys were my first choice. I promise."

Ranma rolled his eyes but took his seat. "I haven't even been here a full week yet. You think Master Hand is going to let me go dimension hopping?"

"You'd be surprised at what he allows," she muttered under her breath. "Either way, he recommended that I take someone fast. Either of you interested?"

Marth took another look at the folder. "Modern day era technology? Carrying a sword around in such a setting might prove to be a hindrance. I believe I shall sit this one out. Enjoy thyself Saotome."

"H-hey! I haven't said yes yet," he protested.

"Aw come on Ranma," pouted Sara cutely. "I asked nicely."

Ranma grimaced at the look. "Seriously, you take me and it's going to turn into a disaster. Marth carrying a sword would be small fry to what I'd accidentally cause."

"I think you're exaggerating," said Sara resolutely.

"Yeah well I think that I'm having a good week if I can avoid getting a new mortal enemy or fiancée. Seriously, you don't want that kind of attention on a recruitment trip."

"Nonsense," Sara replied easily. "I think we'll be fine."

"Hey, I still haven't agreed to anything yet!"

"But helping out your fellow Smash Sisters is part of the contract you made with Master Hand."

Ranma paused, knowing he'd been trapped. "Alright fine. You win."

Sara smirked at her victory. "Glad to hear it. We'll be leaving tomorrow, so make sure to get some rest." Grabbing her toast, she waved goodbye to the Smash brothers and left the room.

"You ever been to an alternate dimension before?" asked Ranma after she had left.

"Naught but this one," responded Marth. "I tend to stand out in most scenarios, and I do not like to journey forth without my blade."

"Never stopped my mom," mumbled Ranma. "She just takes her sword everywhere regardless."

"In a modern setting? Brave woman indeed," he mused.

"You don't know the half of it."

* * *

"_It's getting worse isn't it?_"

Master Hand folded his gloves in front of his darkened head. "It's always going to get worse before it gets better," he reasoned easily.

"_It's only a matter of time until Jodah finds a way through our security and gets the evidence he needs_," spoke Mewtwo. "_I, more than anyone else, know just how many rules you've violated in setting up this arena. Should Jodah find this evidence, he will have all the authority he needs to end this tournament, and you as well_."

"Relax my old friend. Even if he does get the authority to take action against me, we have some of the best and most resourceful fighters in the universe on our side. I'd be more than confident in putting a god against any one of them. Some of them already have fought gods," reasoned the arena master.

"_Do you intend to wage a full scale war against Asgard then?_" The telepathic voice rose audibly in volume.

"Don't be silly, I intend to pitch Asgard into a battle with Hell and then sweep in and take over when both sides are decimated from a long drawn out war."

Mewtwo remained silent.

"I'm just kidding," he assured the pokemon quickly.

"_I never can tell with you_," responded Mewtwo, shaking his head.

"I know. Excellent poker face and all that. Honestly though, I do have a plan. I always knew that being found out would happen eventually.

"_Would you like to inform me of this plan before things get out of hand this time?_" The sarcasm was broadcast clearly with his message.

"Where's the fun in that?" he asked back, amusement in his voice.

Mewtwo merely stared at him, unblinkingly.

"Alright fine. Here's the plan." Taking hold of the monitor, Master Hand spun it around to face the pokemon. There was a moment of silence as he read, followed by a slight widening of the eyes.

"_You intend to challenge them?_"

"Exciting isn't it? A no holds barred Super Smash Battle against the gods themselves. Can you think of the possibilities? Much less the ratings."

Mewtwo shook his head. "_Do you really think they'll go for this? They could delete our universe in an instant should they so desire._"

"It's very unlikely that they'll be able to destroy us that easily," assured Master Hand. "The level of paperwork alone would turn most heads, god or not. And the big man hasn't allowed the outright destruction of a universe for millions of years. No, he won't destroy us, but he'll start chipping away at our resources, forcefully sending characters back to their home universes and such."

"_Couldn't we just oppose him diplomatically then?_"

"We could, but we're fighting against an opponent with much more resources and divinity backing than we do right now. What we need to do, is offer him a challenge. A quick dirty solution that he'll jump at, confident he can win."

"_You intend to wager the entire future of the Smash Universe upon a single tournament?_"

"Exciting isn't it?"

"_Reckless was the word I was going to use._"

"If we don't fix this problem now, it will only continue to grow. We must head this off soon, or it will be too late." The humor was gone from Master Hand's voice now. "This isn't reckless. It's a carefully calculated gamble. It's also our best chance for survival."

"_There's still a chance that Jodah won't even take the challenge,_" protested Mewtwo one last time.

"If he has any pride left as a god, there's no way he'll refuse a challenge made to him by mortals." Master Hand left his desk and faced his window, folding his hands behind his back.

"I should know. After all, I used to be one."

* * *

"Hey Link, what do you usually take when you go do a different dimension?" asked Ranma later that night.

Link thought about it for a minute. "Let's see, I usually take my clawshots, iron boots, megaton hammer, bow and arrows, bombs, mirror shield, Master Sword, Zora tunic, Goron tunic-"

"Right, stupid question," interrupted Ranma. "You just take everything."

"Well, Zelda always did say that I'm somewhat of a packrat," he said sheepishly. "I still have a lot of stuff around that I never use, like the Rod of Seasons and Harp of Ages. I've always been better at the ocarina though."

"Have you ever gone on a recruitment mission before?" asked Ranma curiously.

"A few times. Pit was one of my charges for a while, and I was with Mewtwo when he went to recruit Ness and Lucas."

"How did it go?"

"Pretty simply actually. Mewtwo just showed up, gave them an invitation, and then gave them a demonstration. A few days later, a dimensional rift opened up and they popped through. I think you're worrying too much. Chances are you won't even be there a full day."

"If our ship doesn't crash upon landing and strand us in an alternate dimension for a few days while we fight some sort of super villain before we're actually able to recruit anyone, then I'll consider it a trip wasted," returned Ranma sarcastically. "Seriously, give it time."

"I think you're being paranoid," said Link jokingly. "Master Hand wouldn't send you to a dimension too vastly different from your own until you have more experience with this kind of thing. He knows what he's doing."

* * *

"_So I heard you're planning on sending Sara and Ranma on a recruitment mission. Are you sure you that's wise?_"

"Meh. I figured I'd just send him somewhere and see what happens. Even if he fails I'm almost certain it'll be entertaining."

"_You're crazy you know that?_"

"Not me, really. It's just my brother."

* * *

For some reason, Ranma couldn't suppress the cold shudder that traveled through his spine. "Yeah, I wonder about that sometimes."

"Look, Master Hand knows what he's doing. He wouldn't send you out on this mission unless he thought you were ready for it."

"I've been here almost one week and got into three fights," the martial artist deadpanned. "How could he possibly tell if I'm ready to go dimension hopping from just that?"

"Well, okay, maybe he's making an educated guess based on your profile and current performance?"

"..."

"Not buying that either huh? Just stop worrying about it already. How much trouble could one little hedgehog possibly be?"

Ranma suddenly seized up. "God dammit you said it."

Link blinked. "Said what?"

"You said the words. How bad could this possibly be? You know what? When things do go wrong, I'm blaming everything on you now. Just to let you know."

"Right, sure. Blame accepted. Now get some sleep. You need to be up early tomorrow."

* * *

"So this is your ship?" asked Ranma, looking over the space vessel. It was early morning and Ranma and Sara were on the roof of Smash Bros headquarters were a variety of alien looking spaceships were docked.

"Yep," said Sara proudly.

"Not exactly a stealth model is it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"It's bright orange and red. How exactly is this not going to get noticed by everyone who isn't colorblind?"

"It has a stealth feature," she pointed out, minorly annoyed. "I can camouflage it when I need to."

"Oh well in that case it looks pretty cool."

Ranma didn't know virtually anything about spaceships or space combat in general, but he could tell that Sara's ship was one built for combat. With two cannons on either side of the cockpit and a small, light frame, Ranma correctly assumed that Sara's ship was a hit and run work of art, boasting max speed and firepower along with the best armor they could put on it that wouldn't hamper its agility.

Walking to the underside of the ship, Ranma watched interestedly as a platform descended from the bottom of the ship.

"Technically, this ship only seats one person, but two can still fit comfortably," she assured the martial artist. She took a stand on the platform. "Well, come on."

Ranma glanced around nervously. "Uh, that's kind of a small platform."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Be a man will you? Unless you want me to wait for ten minutes while you go find cold water."

The martial artist sighed and stepped onto the small platform, brushing lightly against the bounty hunter's back.

"I'm sorry that standing next to a good looking woman is such a chore for you," said Sara, completely unsympathetically.

"Just raise the platform will you?"

Sara smirked at the victory, but raised the platform anyways.

The inside of the ship was small, but not cramped. A single laid back seat was at the front of the ship which Sara immediately occupied while Ranma took a smaller, upright seat in the back, watching interestedly as Sara placed her hand on one of the sensors. As if a key had just been turned, the ship suddenly started coming to life around them. Displays began popping up around Sara's seat, and a large galaxy map placed itself over the front window of the ship.

"So where are we going anyways?" asked Ranma, after getting bored of looking around the ship.

"Didn't you read the file?" asked Sara, somewhat annoyed.

"Yeah, I got about to the part where it said that we're chasing after a blue hedgehog who can run Mach II and suddenly felt like I was wasting my time."

The ship jerked suddenly as the landing gear retracted and began hovering on its own power. The whine of the engines started growing steadily louder.

"You haven't seen many of the fighters here have you? We have foxes, wolves, falcons, pokemon, and you think this is a joke?" The engines reached a steady pitch and the craft began moving out of the hanger bay into the open airspace.

"Okay, point taken, but why is a hedgehog the fastest thing alive then? I mean, a cheetah-human I could understand, but last I checked, the hedgehog had a max speed of about five miles per hour."

"And in my universe, dragons can fly through space," countered Sara. "Rules tend to change from dimension to dimension."

"Whatever, I'll believe it when I see it."

Sara began entering numbers on a keypad. "Oh, you'll see soon enough. You might want to fasten your seat-belt by the way."

It was only due to his superior reflexes that Ranma was able to buckle himself in in time for the takeoff. With a sound akin to an explosion, the ship shot off, quickly leaving the town below as nothing more than specks, clearing the cloudscape in seconds, and shooting off through the atmosphere.

Turning in her chair, Sara gave a small smile towards Ranma, whose hand was still holding the buckle of the seat-belt with a white knuckled grip. "You know, that wasn't funny," he said finally.

"Humor is in the eye of the beholder," she responded wisely. "Might want to brace yourself for this next one though. Entering warp speed in three, two, one-"

"Next wha-" FWOOM!

The sound seemed to be briefly sucked from the air as Ranma was pushed back forcefully in his seat. The blackened sky around the window was illuminated in white for a few brief seconds before turning black again.

"Jump successful. Now entering the Linkat galaxy. We should be planetside on this universe's Earth in about ten minutes with our current speed," informed Sara. "So, how does it feel to travel through dimensions?"

Ranma blinked. "That was it? I was expecting something a little more...dramatic than that. Almost seems simple."

Sara reclined in her seat. "Well, getting there is easy enough. Finding the proper dimensional coordinates, the correct dimensional path, the right galaxy in the dimension itself, and the location of the target is another matter entirely. We'd probably have more fighters around if it wasn't so hard to find them along with living up to Master Hand's standards."

Ranma reclined in his chair as best he could. It was easy to tell that the seat was installed after the ship had been built, being a bit off color from the normal colors. "What exactly are his expectations anyways?"

"Hard to say," she replied honestly. "People like Marth and you get in because of their love for battle and combat skill. Link and I were accepted for our resourcefulness, and Mewtwo simply because he's a powerhouse."

Ranma snorted. "You got recruited for your resourcefulness? Really? I mean, Link I can understand, but unless that gun-whip of yours is like a swiss army gun..."

"Oh I have my secrets," she assured him teasingly. "Who knows, maybe I'll actually have to use some when I fight you next."

"Feel free. You're going to need all the help you can-"

CRASH!

The ship ship shook violently. Alarm klaxons began sounding and red lights began flashing in the cockpit.

"Proximity alert?" Sara muttered to herself while furiously typing on the console. "With what? This dimension isn't supposed to have advanced space travel just..." Her words faded out as a gigantic battle-cruiser suddenly de-cloaked in front of them.

"Brace for evasive maneuvers!" She shouted back to Ranma.

"Brace on what? This chair doesn't even have arm rests!"

CRASH!

The ship seemed to ricochet off the wing of the bigger ship and deflect into its hull. Surprisingly, instead of exploding on impact like Ranma expected, the ship tore through the hull, skidding along the ground for a bit before-

CRASH!

Exiting from the other side. But not before-

CRASH! CRASH! KA-BOOM!

-bouncing around the docking station a bit.

"Kinetic barriers holding at forty-six percent," informed Sara. "I think we're okay but I'll have to run a diagnostics check to make sure-"

BOOM!

The small ship shook suddenly.

"Dammit! They're firing at us. Activating heat sinks and camouflage unit. I don't think we can take a ship that size. It's probably carrying smaller fighters for backup too."

Another warning sound began to rise above the others. Sara seemed surprised. "They got an engine? Oh you lucky bastards. Still got that seatbelt fastened?"

"Like I'd take it off with you driving!"

"Good, then brace yourself-"

"On what?"

"-cause this landing's going to be rough."

"Wait, we're landing? Where?"

"On their Earth. If I can time it right, we should be able to hit our target landing zone."

"You know, I really don't like it when you say hit. Can you try using 'land' instead?"

"No promises! Now hold on!"

* * *

"Dr. Eggman! We're under attack!"

The doctor glanced at the frantic robot curiously. "By what? There's nothing on this planet indicating they've built anything more than basic fuel propelled rockets."

"I don't know what it was but it blew a hole in our docking bay the size of a truck! The vacuum sucked out half of our fighters before we even knew what was happening!"

Eggman rubbed his mustache thoughtfully. "Someone was able to see through our cloaking technology and deliver a critical blow to our fighting force. This bears investigating. A new foe has arrived with technology far surpassing our own. We must tread carefully."

* * *

Ranma coughed a couple of times as the smoke cleared from the cockpit. Despite a few sparks coming from the terminals, the ship appeared to be relatively whole, with little superficial damage other than needing a new paint job.

"So tell me Sara," groaned Ranma as he unfastened his life saving seat-belt. "Why couldn't you avoid that ship the size of a small nation?"

"They had a cloaking device on," she explained, extracting herself from her pilot's seat. "I wasn't checking for heat signatures because the file said there wasn't any notable advancements in space technology in this universe."

"Oh, the file said that? Well, I'm glad I took the time to read it then," said Ranma sarcastically. "Any more useful nuggets of information for us?"

"Yes actually. It involved your face and my tazer." She brandished her gun-whip threateningly.

Ranma sighed. "Right, point taken. Sorry," he added quickly.

Sara matched his sigh. "We should probably assess the damage and see if we can still cloak."

"Hey Sara, is your on-board computer still working?"

Sara quickly tapped a few keys before nodding affirmative.

"Good. Can you send an e-mail from here?"

Sara looked at him questioningly. "What for? Can't exactly call a tow-truck down here."

"Nah, I just wanted to tell Link that I totally called it. That's all."

* * *

A/N: Our heroes, trapped (sort of) in the Sonic universe. What could possibly go wrong here? Better question: What can't go wrong when Ranma's involved? Find out in the next chapter.

Reviews are appreciated, criticism even more so. Flames will be happily accepted and dissected on one of my numerous forums, because that's how I roll. Don't expect every update to be this soon though. I've god Resonance of Fate, Red Dead Redemption, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 to play through.


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